Guardian Fairy
by Alpha Dragonis
Summary: In order to save the universe, Arceus had to transfer his powers to a human. Facing the challenge of a lifetime, Rex Vermend sets off in the distant land of Fiore alongside his Pokémon to witness extraordinary sights, and experence hardships along the way. The journey will be long and the adventure will not only uncover the Plates but also his true feelings.
1. The Guardian, the Cat and the Zodiac

**Chapter 1 - The Guardian, the Cat and the Zodiac**

Mauville City was the third largest city in the pokémon world, behind both Nimbasa and Lumiose City in the Unova and Kalos regions respectively. This was thanks to the renovation efforts carried out by the Gym Leader Wattson and with help of several people from Lumiose City, most notably their electric type specialist Clemont. One of the notable changes made was the addition of Mauville Hills, a more upstart place for those who had either the money or the luck and was built to the north west of the main shopping centre.

The apartments built there were mostly for one or two people, though there were also a fair few family apartments as well, all of them designed for five people. Although anyone could live there if they were lucky enough the only way to get access into the place was with a special keycard or someone invited you in, and everyone had to go through the main entrance, a clean lobby with several facilities including videophones.

Currently at one of those phones was Rex Vermend, an 18 year old trainer who was just under five and a half feet tall. He had short messy brown hair that fell down in a number of spikes around his head and had an average build. Rex was currently wearing a brown jacket that was unzipped, with a pair of dark brown stripes on each of the arms and two pockets. It was worn over a red shirt with a red and yellow flame pattern on the front and he also wear a pair of blue jeans and black and red shoes. There was an opal coloured Mega Wristband around his left wrist.

Standing to his right was a mostly green bipedal pokémon with yellows eyes that had a thin red rim around them and a long neck. Down her back were six yellow seeds and two thin lines running down to the tail which was an X that looked like the branch of two palm trees. The chin was red long with a stripe across her stomach. This is his starter pokémon, Sceptile.

"Isn't it like 9 hours ahead or something in the middle of Unova uncle Matt?" He asked, yawning. It wasn't even nine in the morning and had already received a notification about a video call.

On the other side of the line was an older looking person with light brown hair and facial hair in the form of a short beard. "Yeah, it is 9 hours ahead here in Unova but I haven't really talked to you for a while and would like to talk with you for a bit, especially now that you spend most of your time in Hoenn. Anyway I wanted to let you know that my brother is staying over for a few days seeing as he decided to stop by here suddenly."

Rex felt his hands ball into fists and hardened his glare. "You better not let that bastard in my room, why the hell did you have to let him in the house?" Any sleep that was present was gone and he snapped to attention, and Sceptile looked at him in concern.

"Don't be so harsh on Dean, nephew. I have made sure that he doesn't go near your room and had Gallade guard it, but it will only be for a few days because of a bit of work needs to be done to his bedroom and it's best for him to not be in the house." Matthew replied, trying to remain calm by fiddling with his beard.

There was a short hollow laugh that came from Rex. "That's a good one. Last time he stayed over for a few days it ended up being nearly two weeks and he had the audacity to go into my room, thinking I was present for some stupid reason."

"Well it's hardly surprising given that last time it happened was two years ago…" Matthew admitted, doing his best not to meet with the glare on his nephew's face before deciding to change the subject to something a little less sensitive. "Anyway I just heard from Zoe that she got her fifth ribbon in Sinnoh, it was in Alamos Town so now she can enter the Grand Festival."

This worked and Rex broke out of his cold demeanour. "Really? Well I'll probably go attend it this time as I have nothing better to do other than training with my own team. It's taking place in about three months right?"

Matthew nodded with a smile on his face. "I'll be going there to, so it'll be great to see each other in person after a couple of years." There was a noise that wasn't picked up on the videophone and he turned his head to look at it before looking back at Rex again. "It looks like you aunt is pulling up my driveway now so I better stop this conversation now before she rambles on for hours. It's nice to see you looking healthy and ready to go Sceptile, bye now!"

With that last remark the screen then just to black for several seconds before it returned to the main page which had a dark blue Poké Ball in the background and several options listed as to what to do. Rex stood up from his seat, still in a sour mood over his dad apparently being in his own home, particularly after the last time he had visited and ended up in a worse mood for several weeks. His usual relaxed demeanour was replaced by an on edge one and would frequently snap at other people and his team.

"Come on Sceptile, let's just head out to the mall and get something to eat to relax. I heard that they've got a new store that sells malasadas and Robin says they are delicious." Rex stated to Sceptile who nodded in reply and grinned at the prospect of having one of those.

Sceptile was the first pokémon that Rex officially owned as a trainer with her first battle being to stop a wild pokémon from harassing Professor Birch, who had decided to make the brilliant choice of invading the space of a pack of Mightyena and Poochyena who then began chasing him. Although most of the pack opted to simply intimidate the professor one of them followed him and it lead to her and Rex defeating the wild Poochyena before being called away by its pack. She had taken quite a liking to the young trainer during the battle and wanted to stay with him once they got back to Littleroot Town. Since then Sceptile had been a vital member of the team and was the closest in personality to her trainer.

As they walked through the mall several of the people also present began looking at him and exchanging small conversation with anyone near them. Rex shrugged it off and kept walking towards the new store where they could get a malasada, though as they passed one of the smaller corridors that led to another part of the shopping centre there was an unnerving presence.

"Did you just feel that right now? That strange feeling of being watched?" Rex asked, turning to face Sceptile.

"Tile." Her eyes narrowed slightly at the corridor and they both stopped, not sure what to think of it.

"We can get our malasada first and then investigate that feeling, which one do you have in mind?" Rex asked as they entered the Malasada Shop.

Approximately ten minutes later they came out with two malasadas, a Spicy Tamato one for Sceptile and a chocolate and vanilla flavoured one for Rex which they decided to eat outside of the store. Once they exited they attention was drawn back to the strange feeling they had gotten as they passed the corridor and found a plain door that looked like it had appeared overnight and was fitted in perfectly. Moving out to the other end they were on the other side and it looked like it was behind a clothes shop, though he saw that the few people who had even bothered to use it just carried on past it like it wasn't there.

This was making the two of them even more nervous as they stood in front of the door and getting a weird look from someone confirmed their suspicions - for whatever reason they were the only one who could see it. Once no one was looking they opened the door and it shut behind them without making a single sound and then they were in what felt like a cave, as there was a natural opening ahead of them.

"Okay, now I'm a little bit scared." Rex admitted, shaking from the sudden change in scenery.

Although Sceptile was still keeping her composure she was also feeling a little bit spooked by what was going on. She was hoping that this was all some kind of illusion and that they were going to win a prize, but something inside of her was realizing that this was not going to be the case.

They both went forwards after being certain that they were not going to panic and they exited to find that they were high up on a large golden circle, looking around they could see a long way down and then Rex realised where they could be. "Are we high up a mountain, Sceptile because from the looks of it I'd say we jumped all the way from Hoenn to either Sinnoh or Johto. Wait… WHAT?!" He shouted after realising it.

"Sceptile…" Sceptile noted wryly and then began shivering as it felt colder and then spread out her arms in preparation to attack.

Ahead of them two multicoloured spheres began forming the air with a blue light coming from one and a pink light coming from the other and expanding greatly to reveal two different pokémon, though both of them were large and had a very powerful presence to them that brought the two of them to their knees. The first was a quadrupedal blue and silver pokémon with a blue diamond on the chest and the other was a light and dark purple pokémon with a pink pearl on each shoulder.

"Greetings, human. So glad that you could finally make it, have you tried the malasada yet?" The blue one asked wryly.

"Is that the first thing that you have to ask him Dialga? You're scaring him silly." The purple pokemon responded, at least it was considering the state that Rex was in.

"Well he should have arrived ten minutes ago instead of going for a snack Palkia!" Dialga responded with a low growl and then looked over to where they were both standing.

Rex was shaking with fear as the words rang in he head and had understandably forgotten about not being scared and was instead absolutely terrified he began moving up and down repeatedly, bowing in hope of placating the two of them for some unknown crime he must have committed. "Please have mercy on me! I don't know what I did but I promise that I will make up for whatever horrible crime I committed just please don't hurt me! If it was for my use of bad language not so long ago then I'msorryaboutitandIcanassureyou..." All of the words coming out of his mouth were becoming incomprehensible.

Sceptile was somewhat amused at this outbreak at first before she ended up becoming annoyed more then anything and then smacked Rex in the head and made his world spin for a few seconds. "Thank you." He grumbled before jumping behind Sceptile in fear, effectively making her a shield "If you're going to attack then please attack her instead of me! I'm not built to withstand those kind of attacks!" Sceptile was surprised at this and then got annoyed that she was being used as a shield. Even though she knew a dragon move she wouldn't be strong enough to defeat one of them let alone both.

Both of the two large dragons just stared at him for several seconds before breaking out into a roa of laughter and it took them a minute to settle down before they cleared their throats and started talking again. "As amusing as that little outburst was that's not why you are here. The reason you are here, Rex Vermend, is that we need you help." Dialga stated.

"As you know I am Palkia, the ruler of space. My brethren here is Dialga, ruler of time." Palkia picked up.

Dialga growled in annoyance. "I wanted to be called Time Lord but Space Lord apparently didn't flow so well." He muttered under his breath.

"Wait… why do I need to help two legendary pokémon who rule space and time? Isn't this a problem you can just wish away or something?" Rex asked.

There was a sudden roar from Dialga who was surrounded by a light blue aura. "If we could we would have a long time ago, you moron!" Came the powerful bellow.

Palkia sighed and emitted a calming pink aura to counteract the blue one coming from the other dragon and the pressure in the surrounding area equalized. "Ignore Dialga, he's been in a bad mood for the past decade. What he _should_ be saying is that this is a more complicated matter than simply wishing it away by using our powers."

Three more lights blinked in to reveal three similar but different pokémon, each of them had a blue body and a red gem in their head, along with two tails that each also had a red gem. Their differences lay in their heads; the first one had a yellow head with closed eyes, the second one was pink with yellow eyes, and the third one had a darker blue head and yellow eyes as well.

"These three pokémon are Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf and will help us in our part of the task." Palkia introduced and then turned to face Dialga.

Both large dragons moved backwards and then roared and their respective coloured aura began intensifying as the area began shaking slightly, with Rex and Sceptile moving their feet apart to keep themselves upright as a grey cloud that spread over the whole area and the wind picked up. There was a ripple in the air that expanded and ribbons of rainbow coloured energy began streaming out as a large white pokémon came out of it, with several grey spots and a yellow wheel with four red jewels, one in each corner and yellow at the tips of what looked like hooves. Something the two of them did notice was that the pokémon was looking pale and sickly, and faltered for several moments before righting himself and managing to land himself on the floor.

 _Greetings, chosen human. I am Arceus, the Alpha pokémon and the creator of the universe and all pokémon, the God of them all if you want to refer to me as one._ Arceus spoke telepathically to Rex and despite the fact that Arceus was not looking so well it was still an incredibly powerful voice that brought him to his knees.

"Getting onto the reason why you were brought here, it's because Arceus is dying and we need you to use his powers." Palkia stated outright.

Once Rex has processed that information he stood back up and began asking rapid fire questions. "Wait a second, if you created the universe then how can you die? How is this going to work? Do I get a say in this? Where the heck do I go? Why me?"

Dialga was getting more and more irritated by the minute. "ONE AT A TIME!" He roared, silencing Rex.

There was silence for a minute before Rex began asking his questions one by one. "First one is how is this going to work?"

 _Most of my life comes from the powers of the Plates for each of the types available, except for the Normal type but I'll get to that in a bit. So I will transfer several of them into your body with the help of the lake guardians and then Dialga and Palkia will send you to another world. With each Plate you'll be able to use all of the attacks by that type as well as their weaknesses and resistances, though as there isn't a Plate for the Normal type so it will be your default Forme. In addition you will also be able to use some abilities associated with that type._ Arceus explained, keeping his focus on the human and Sceptile.

"So does that I would be able to fly on my own if I use the Plate for the flying type?" Rex asked, thinking about some of the possibilities.

"Genius." Dialga snarked.

 _Examples of others abilities include being able to breathe underwater with the Splash Plate, withstand more extreme temperatures with the Flame Plate and with the Iron Plate you can even armour up your body and provide a greater resistance to your body. But you can only start with five Plates your body, though it will be six including the base Forme._ Arceus explained, ignoring the comment that Dialga had made.

"Why?" Rex asked, confused.

Palkia answered the question. "Arceus was born with that power so he can naturally wield it but a human body is much more fragile and it will take some time for you to get used to it as well. If you tried using them all at once then your body would explode on the spot."

 _In addition you will have to collect each of the Plates, and the more they are used the more your body can get used to it as well. Furthermore you can also don the appearances of Legendary Pokémon as long as you have the corresponding Plates, but use that power wisely as it burns through it at a much faster rate than normal._ Arceus explained further, putting a heavy emphasis on wisely and began coughing.

This was quite a lot to take in and Rex spent several minutes processing what he had been told and was still shaking slightly from all of it. "Next question, how are you of all pokémon dying?"

There was a light chuckle from Arceus before he cleared his throat. _Believe it or not I am a very old being, Rex Vermend. I am easily many times older than every living human on the pokémon world put together, as in several billion years old._

Rex paled in horror at this revelation and began stuttering for an answer but ended up with nothing and then moved on to the next. "W-where do I g-go?" He asked shakily.

 _Not here in the pokémon world, I'm sorry but your powers would stick out like a sore thumb so I had the two of them search for a world where you would fit in best._ Arceus replied with a hint of guilt.

Rex and Sceptile exchanged a look of both shock and horror at the prospect of this and realised the implications of it. If they had to go to another world then they would be missing Rex's uncle, aunt and nephews as well as all of their friends and rivals they have made. "Wait a second, is it possible for me to decline this?"

This irritated Dialga but Palkia intervened before he could retort. "You can walk away from this if that is what you want, though to protect the Hall of Origin we will modify your memories slightly." The large purple dragon explained.

This earned him a glare from the blue legendary though he backed down once Arceus also gave him a look. _Palkia is correct, you do have the option to walk away from this. I wouldn't dream of forcing this on anyone. We have several others in mind based on multiple factors._

Rex took a few steps back to think this over, realising that this was going to be the most important decision of his life and that there was more than just the world at stake. His biggest worry was his relatives and how they would cope without him, but what would happen if he walked away? Sure he'd be able to see his family and friends but this was also a chance for something different to happen and it would be throwing it away. It took several minutes for him to come to the conclusion that he wanted help them, even if it meant not be able to see his friends and family.

Turning backwards the group of legendary pokémon could see a renewed determination. "Okay, I'll help you. So where am I going to go?"

"In a land far, far away lies the kingdom of Fiore, a small, peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some, however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards. Banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore. But there is a certain guild in a certain town that soars high above the rest, one from which countless legends have been born. A guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. Its name... is Fairy Tail." Palkia narrated.

Both Rex and Sceptile gave him a deadpan look. "Is that supposed to be some sort of opening narration?" He asked.

Arceus smiled as that and nodded to the three lake guardians who each stood several feet away from him and the three gems on each of them began glowing a red colour. _Please return your Sceptile now and then declare the five Plates that you start with._

This was something Rex didn't think about and began mulling it over, considering the possible types that he wanted to start with. The first that came to his mind was Water as he expected to find one or two of them underwater and it would also allow him to fight much better underwater and Flying to have an aerial advantage, those two were the only ones Rex was certain about. Fighting was the next one he decided upon as he needed lots of powerful physical attacks and Fire to have a lot of powerful ranged attacks that can be boosted even further.

As for the last one it was a toss up between Electric and Psychic, the former for being able to paralyze opponents which would be extremely helpful in battle and the latter for having a number of good support moves and being able to move things with his mind was equally appealing. After mulling it over for a moment he returned Sceptile to her Poké Ball and spoke up. "The five types are Water, Flying, Fighting, Fire and Electric."

Arceus planted himself firmly on the floor opposite Rex and a yellow circle in a similar pattern to the ring around the body of the Alpha pokémon accompanied by another golden ring outside that began releasing a powerful energy that directed itself towards Rex's body slowly then it came surging in. _Keep standing, do not falter otherwise it will reject you! Focus!_ He ordered in a demanding voice.

Rex had almost fell down on both of his knees and was already on one but managed to stand up, though all of this power was going to his head and already felt the world beginning to spin around him. The outside ring then became a fiery red and his body felt really warm, then the ring glowed a sea blue colour and his body cooled down, then yellow, sky blue and a brick red colour. After what felt like forever the energy stopped flowing into his body.

 _Good luck, we won't be able to help you unless it's an extreme emergency though so don't do anything reckless, understand?_ Arceus stated and then nodded to both Dialga and Palkia. The lake guardians scattered and they both began emitting an aura as they began using their powers to send him to Fiore.

"I'll try." Rex replied, and he could see that made Arceus chuckle in amusement. It was better than nothing. The last thing that he saw was an orb of energy encompass him and then everything faded to black.

* * *

 **Fiore, Hargeon Town**

When Rex woke up, he found himself in motion and then saw that he was on some sort of train and that there were several other people in the carriages. Something that did catch his attention though was that the train was slowing down and assumed that he was approaching some sort of town, and saw that he bag was still there. There was something else that felt different but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

Rex stood up and moved to the nearest doors on the train carriage when he caught a person and a cat sitting down, with the person doubling over in pain, was he suffering from motion sickness?

The young male was lean and muscular, with pink spiky hair and black eyes and he was scattered across the whole seat. He was wearing a sleeveless black waistcoat with a gold trim that was left open and untucked, and was the only thing his was wearing on his chest. There was a brown belt that held up white knee length trouse and there was a black armband around his left arm, and around his neck was a white scarf that looked like scales of some kind. He was also wearing a large red overcoat.

Standing across him was a round blue cat with black eyes, a white underbelly and carried a small green bag on his back.

"Is this normal?" Rex wondered out loud, noticing the train had just stopped at Hargeon.

"Aye." To his amazement it was the _cat_ that answered it and he gave said cat a strange look. "This happens all the time."

Seeing the cat act as this was perfectly fine was even more confusing so he decided to lift Natsu up and found that he was stronger than he initially thought and then they got off the train and Rex gently set the young male down on the platform after a few seconds the male then jumped up with a grin on his face.

"Alright I'm off that cursed train!" He declared in an energetic tone, looking completely healthy.

 _What sort of world is this?!_ Rex thought and sweatdropped. Whatever doubts he had had about blending in evaporated pretty quickly and realised it was going to be easier than he expected.

"Thank for it man! My name's Natsu and this is Happy." Natsu introduced himself, grateful for being carried off the train.

"Uh, no problem. I'm Rex." Rex replied cautiously, still trying to not freak out slightly over the fact that he could perfectly understand what Happy was saying. He was secretly glad that he couldn't understand what his pokémon were saying and then made a mental note to eat the malasadas that they bought all the way from Mauville City.

To his surprise he saw Natsu's nose twitching. "You don't smell like you come from around here, did you travel a long way?" He asked.

Rex was surprised at this question, as he had feared that Natsu would be suspicious but it was becoming more and more apparent that Natsu wasn't a very bright person. "Yeah, I've been travelling to Fiore for the past month or so. I've come here to look up the list of Guilds and join one of them."

Natsu nodded. "Oh okay, you could end up in the same Guild as me then!" He grinned and then showed off a red mark on his right shoulder that looked like half a heart was on fire but at the same time it looked like it was some sort of creature though he couldn't make out what it was.

"So which Guild is this?" Rex asked slowly.

"Fairy Tail. Happy is also a member." Natsu grinned, with Happy moving the green bag to reveal a similar coloured mark on his back.

That name made Rex remember in Palkia's narration while he was in the Hall of Origin and realised that he would be in the same guild as this person if he joined. It didn't look like a bad thing so far though he wasn't completely certain of it yet and simply nodded. "Sure, I'll consider it but I really need to get going now." He stated nervously and then began heading towards the exit of the train station, quickly leaving the two people he had just met behind.

"What's his problem? It's not like he's in any rush or something." Natsu frowned.

"Aye. So where should we start looking?" Happy asked as they began walking.

Although Rex did intend to join Fairy Tail he would at least look up the other guilds to see which ones were available, as well as a map of Fiore too. Another problem that he realised was that he had a lack of money, or whatever the local currency was for Fiore as they never really told him. Rex rubbed his eyes in slight annoyance as he then began looking for an information area or some sort of shop that he could get some money from and then came across a pawn shop that didn't look all too well lit inside.

Looking inside it was definitely not the most well kept shop either as there was dust gathering on some of the shelves, to the point where he brushed a finger to inspect it and shuddered inside. _Hopefully I still have something left inside my bag to sell that's at least worthy._ Rex thought and then began sorting through his bag and ended up coming up with a strange blue-black shard that was no bigger than the palm of his hand. Realising that it probably wasn't going to be worth much and instead came out with a similar sized copper coin.

The person who ran the shop came in, and was a burly man who looked at him in a way that dared him to try something. "What do you want, kid?" He asked in a gruff tone.

The fact that he called him a kid got on his nerves, especially considering that the man was smaller than him but decided to swallow his annoyance and presented the copper coin. "I want to sell this."

The man then grunted and pulled out a microscope of sorts and then began inspecting it for several moment, not really giving much away though his silence certainly got Rex's hopes up in something that was at least decent. "This is a strange coin, kid. I don't know much about it so you're going to have to tell me more about it."

Rex noted that the date was X784 and realised that he had to make something up in order to convince him to sell it for a good price. "It's an old copper coin from approximately three hundred years ago that was an old form of currency where I come from. Even back in my home country this is pretty rare."

"You're accent is weird kid, you know that?" The man smiled wryly and then went back to observing the coin. "It has the age and looks authentic, though since I've never seen one of those before this will only be a rough estimate but I'd say about 20,000-40,000 Jewel."

From the way he talked about the price it certainly sounded like a lot but also it sounds like that it wasn't much. "So can you do it for 40,000 then?" Rex inquired.

"...I'll do it for 30,000 Jewel but that's the best I can do." Came the stiff reply.

Realising that arguing was going to get him nowhere Rex accepted the amount and then counted the notes in his hands, spotting 30 lots of 1000 Jewel notes and stuffed all of them back into his bag before leaving the shop, and saw that several girls were running towards someplace with most of them screaming in joy and admiration.

"Quick! It's Salamander!" " _The_ Salamander? I have to get his autograph!" "Well I'm gonna get him to go on a date with me!" They were screaming as fangirls would scream.

 _Salamander? What the hell is this all about?_ Rex thought as he jogged towards a small crowd of girls surrounding a man that Rex assumed to be Salamander.

'Salamander' was a tall slim person with short, spiky blue hair with black eyes and an odd purple tattoo above his right eye. His wore a purple long coat with gold trimmings, that had a light blue circle with many arrows pointing away from the centre attached like a ring. Around his wrists were several gold bracelets and a pair of rings around two fingers on his right hand, this purple long coat was worn over a right shirt. Salamander also wore wine coloured pants and black shoes.

He was waving towards the crowd and got a chorus of adoration from all of the surrounding girls, except for a blonde haired one who was blushing. Rex was also not the only male to come to see what was going on as both Natsu and Happy were running eagerly towards them.

"Igneel! Igneel!" Natsu grinned as he pushed his way through to the front and fell forwards. Rex was surprised to see the blonde girl suddenly regain focus, and then looked at Salamander with a suspicious feeling in his gut.

There was a moment of silence when Natsu looked up and then began walking away dejectedly. "You're not Igneel."

Unfortunately for Natsu, the fangirls were being a little bit aggressive and began dogpiling him and beating him up in an amusing fashion. "How rude!" "Yeah, Salamander is like a totally amazing wizard!" They all stated angrily.

Salamander rubbed his forehead with the two fingers that also had the rings around them. "Now, now let's not do anything rash such as beating him up, it was probably an honest mistake." He stated smoothly and then the girls all fawned over him again. The way they all went from happy to angry to happy again definitely confirmed Rex's suspicion that Salamander was using some sort of magic to get them to attract him.

"What about you young man? Have you heard of me?" Salamander then turned to face Rex with a smooth smile on his face.

"I've heard about you just now, but not before." Rex shrugged it off and then got beaten up comically as well by the fangirls. This part of whatever magic Salamander was using was beginning to really get on Rex's nerves and he had half a mind to beat him up, though without using one of the Plates to help him.

A small purple magic seal appeared in the air and then Salamander began writing something in a strange pinkish fire. When he finished it the board had his signature painted in a blue colour and handed it towards Rex, who decided to accept it wordlessly to avoid being beaten up again by the fangirls. That being said he still looked uncertain but put on a fake smile and just accepted it with every intention of burning it when he had a moment to spare.

"How grand." Rex stated with false enthusiasm.

Salamander didn't catch on and just waved over to his whole fangirls who were squealing in admiration at him. "All of you lovely ladies are invited to my party onboard my yacht this evening! My apologies for having to cut our time short but I have to make preparations." This disappointed them all and a red seal appeared underneath him and he was elevated by a ring of purple fire and then began heading in the direction of the docks.

The crowd eventually dispersed which left only the small group of Rex, Natsu, Happy and the blonde girl who had been snapped out of Salamander's magic. This blonde haired girl wore a sleeveless white and blue shirt along with a short blue skirt held up by a belt with a ring that held several gold and silver keys along it. She also wore a black whip on her belt.

"Thanks for helping me out back there! My name is Lucy. I know I may not look like much but I am a wizard too." She introduced herself as Natsu and Happy. "I know how I can make up to you though?"

They were mystified at first but then she lead them all to a restaurant and got them a table. The menu was mostly familiar with Rex and then he made up his mind on a medium cooked steak with gravy and a small assortment of vegetables. Lucy also ate a single dish, but Natsu and Happy were eating quite a lot of different dishes and their plates began piling up and they were also eating rather sloppily. They weren't the only ones to notice their not so good manners as several other patrons had also noticed.

"Can't you calm down a bit? It's not like your food is going to run away." Rex stated, staring at them for a moment in annoyance.

"Mmmmrreee." Natsu mumbled through his food and was currently working through some meat on bone, completely ignoring what Rex had just said. Happy was chowing down on some blue coloured fish as well and the other two members at the table just stared at them for several seconds in amazement.

After taking a bit of steak and eating it carefully he turned to Lucy. "Since you said that you were a wizard, does that mean you're going to join a Guild soon if you're not already one?" Rex asked.

"Yep!" Lucy grinned in reply.

"Oh really? Well Rick here is also going to apply to join a Guild." Natsu grinned as he moved on to a pasta dish.

"Rex." The male in question corrected.

"Really? What Magic do you use?" Lucy asked curiously. Natsu and Happy also looked at him eagerly.

There was a carrot in Rex's throat and he nearly choked on it and took a drink of water. "Uh… describing it is not an easy job so I'll pass until I can think of an accurate description. So what was the deal with that Salamander guy, what was the Magic he used?"

Lucy was impressed with this deduction. "That Salamander guy was using Charm Magic to get the other girls to fall for him, but those were outlawed several years ago by the Magic Council so he had to have pulled quite a few strings to get his hands on one of them. As for the Guild, I'm going to join the most popular one in Fiore and they're always featured in Sorcerer Weekly!" She began explaining, eventually slipping into a fangirl like grin though it was different compared to those wooed by Salamander.

"You talk a lot." Happy observed.

Rex then remembered something from earlier. "Wait, who is this Igneel? When you came across this Salamander fellow you mentioned Igneel several times, so who is he? Some sort of wizard?"

Natsu grinned before replying, "Igneel isn't a wizard, he's a dragon. We came looking for him after hearing rumors that he was in Hargeon Town so we came here to find him."

This made Lucy jump up in shock from that revelation. "Seriously? But dragons haven't been seen for over 400 years! Why would a dragon be flying around a town anyway? Don't give me that look!" Lucy cried out when they both raised a hand (or paw in Happy's case) and they both had their mouths open in shock.

 _If Fiore hadn't seen a dragon in more than 400 years then I wonder how they would react to the likes of Palkia and Dialga, and then there is also the other dragon pokémon in the pokémon world._ Rex thought to himself with a wry grin.

Once they had eaten their meal though she pulled out some money to pay for all of the food that they had eaten, though Rex insisted that he paid for his meal as well. "Well I guess I'll see you around." Lucy stated as she got up to leave but to their amazement both Natsu and Happy were on their knees and bowing to her on the floor.

"Thank you for paying for our meal!" They both stated with some tears coming from their eyes.

"There is no need to do that!" Lucy burst out, and Rex put his hand to his face.

Not long after the two of them left both Lucy and Rex also left the restaurant and they went their separate ways. He was wandering through the streets, wondering why things were feeling different now than earlier when he looked like and then spotted a mirror in the window.

The first thing he noticed was that he gained some height, probably about a couple of inches. Rex now had shoulder length hair which was mainly white, save for a couple of golden locks that came down his forehead. His eyes were now green and wore a small diamond shaped earring on both ears. His white jacket falls down between his waist and knees and has a golden outline around it and is worn over a light green shirt accompanied by a short red tie, with the sleeves of the jacket rolled back. Rex had a black and gold belt which held up his white trousers and had a pair of gold, white and red boots to match.

Looking down at his Mega Wristband it looked much the same but there was a yellow line around the middle with two small red jewels either side of the Key Stone. "You know, I actually kinda like this look." He muttered to himself, turning around so that he could see both of his sides. It was then that he remembered something and took out the two bags with the malasada's in them then he put them back in his bag and set off to find somewhere more remote where revealing Sceptile wouldn't attract as much attention.

* * *

Elsewhere Lucy was now in the park and taking out the latest issue of Sorcerer Weekly, a magazine that focused on wizards and Guilds. She was currently reading an article about Fairy Tail and laughing about their exploits. "Whilst the bandits were defeated, Fairy Tail destroyed seven homes in the process! That's even better than destroying the clock in another town!" Lucy read out loud and began laughing again, then sat up properly once she calmed down. "I can't wait to join them."

"I'm sorry but did you say that you wanted to join a Guild?" Salamander asked, popping out from behind the bushes.

Lucy jumped in surprise. "What?" She blurted out.

"Haven't you forgotten about my party? It would be such a shame for a pretty girl like you to come along." Bora stated in a flirtatious tone.

"Don't be ridiculous! I know you're using that Charm to get the girls to come to you, it's weakness is awareness. I'm not going to go out with a creep like you!" Lucy responded, pointing a finger at Salamander.

There was a look of hurt from Salamander upon being called a creep but that was soon replaced with another flirtatious smile. "Not only do you have good looks but you also have brains right? So you want to join Fairy Tail, then have you heard of the famous wizard Salamander?"

Lucy was struggling for a moment as she felt the conflicting emotions in her head. "Y-you mean Salamander of Fairy Tail? Are you _that_ famous Salamander?" It was at this point her face began turning red, thinking that he was also hot on top of being a very famous wizard from a Guild.

"The one and the same. If you come along to my party I might be able to convince the Master of Fairy Tail to let you join the Guild." Salamander tempted her.

Although Lucy was perfectly aware of the fact that he was using Charm magic, the prospect of her finally joining Fairy Tail overrode that sense of awareness and she fell for him, with a stream of hearts coming out of her mouth. "Yes please!" She quickly replied.

"Then I'll see you there tonight at the dock, aboard my yacht." Salamander replied and used the same Spell from earlier to lift himself in the air and carry him away towards the docks. Lucy got infuriated by the fact that she had fallen for his charms but got over it and grinned at the thought of being able to join Fairy Tail, then she began moving to the town.

After finally finding a space in the same park that Lucy had been in and it was approaching evening and the sun was beginning to set, turning the sky a nice orange colour the closer to the sun that one person looked. Since there were fewer people around this made it a much better opportunity to send out his pokémon now and he took out Sceptile's Poké Ball.

If anyone had actually bothered to look in the direction of the brief flash they could see a strange green lizard materialising seemingly out of thin air. "Sorry about that, but I had to make sure that no one was watching. The malasadas are probably cold right now so the spice will not taste as good." Rex explained as he handed the small bag containing the red coloured malasada.

Sceptile nodded for several moments and began eating some of her spicy malasada. "You know this is actually pretty good. Maybe if we get to go back to the pokémon world then Sceptile wants to get another… What's wrong with you?" She answered with a confused look on her face.

Rex was shaking slightly whilst he tried to take a bite of his malasada. "Y-you talked!" There was a pause and then he frowned. "Why do you refer to yourself in the third person?"

"What are you going on about? Sceptile has always been able to speak and has always referred to herself in the third person." Sceptile replied, clearly still not getting it and then choked on her next piece of malasada as she realised that he perfectly understood what she was staying.

"I can understand you, that's what you're thinking right?" Rex grinned as he began eating his malasada, the chocolate and vanilla filling was creamy and in two separate halves and was much better than he expected. When they had finished the sun had mostly set down and the majority of the orange had faded and simply cleared the way to the blue of night.

"So what has happened today?" Sceptile asked and Rex began explaining everything from when he was on the train through his meeting with Salamander and Lucy as well as their discussion about Igneel, and saw that Sceptile had also grinned at that fact. They definitely had the same idea and then looked out over towards the lit up boat in the distance. "So what do you intend to do about this Salamander guy? Sceptile knows that you don't trust him."

"Well I'll follow Salamander but I won't send you out again until later." Rex stated before slinging his bag over his shoulder and taking out the Poké Ball and Sceptile disappeared in a flash of red before heading over towards the yacht, though for some reason he still kept the signature of Salamander in his bag.

Getting closer he saw that the yacht was surprisingly modern and interesting, part of the upper deck was supported by four pillars. The boat had four floors on top of the main deck area along with several lines of rope going up to the open section of the top floor that overlooked the rest of the deck. As Rex got closer he then hid in one of the shadows and then used Camouflage to blend in with his surroundings and began sneaking around then jumped silently on the open upper deck and then began waiting.

All the way back in Hargeon, Natsu and Happy were looking over out towards the bay of Hargeon. "Is that the boat on which Salamander was hosting that stupid party?" Natsu groaned as the thought of being on a boat made him queasy.

"Aye." Happy nodded.

A pair of girls were walking by and were clearly discussing about the fact that Salamander had passed through the town. "Aww, I didn't get to go to Salamander's party and I had the perfect outfit for it too." One of them was complaining about it, that was loud enough for both Natsu and Happy to pick it up and look at them.

"Yeah and that Salamander said he was a wizard of the Fairy Tail Guild right? Not only is he handsome but he's also a famous wizard." The other one of them stated.

Natsu then looked at the girl who had said that last sentence with a strange look on his face, that was distant and he looked down at the ground. "Fairy… Tail…" He muttered under his breath and Happy looked up at him in response to that statement before they both looked out at the boat again with Natsu feeling wheezy again before setting off in pursuit of the yacht.

* * *

"Lucy, right? That's a lovely name." Salamander smiled.

Back on the yacht Lucy had changed into a wine coloured dress and blue high heeled shoes and was currently in a room with Bora that was light and rather spacious with light blue walls and there was a small table with a bottle of wine and two glasses. After pouring out a glass for Lucy, Bora used Telekinesis to move orbs of liquid from her glass of wine and towards. "How about a drink to celebrate your beauty and becoming a part of Fairy Tail?" He asked with a smile on his face.

Lucy seemed to agree with this at first but then swatted them away when she figured something. " What do you think you doing? I know what you were up to, you were trying to use Sleep Magic." Bringing his hand to his face revealed a ring with a crescent moon on it.

"Very impressive." Salamander noted wryly.

"Look, I don't want you to get the wrong idea. Yes, I really want to join the Fairy Tail guild but I'm not here to become your boyfriend." From outside an open window, a camouflaged Rex was listening to the whole thing.

Salamander stood up and moved away from the table slightly. "My, you're quite a handful aren't you?" He asked, his attitude was beginning to change and then the light blue curtains came back to reveal that a group of large and burly men were carrying unconscious women. They were grinning and chuckling coldly, looking down at Lucy.

"What's going on here?!" Lucy jumped up and turned to face them.

Salamander's attitude changed from suave to sinister. "Welcome to my ship, you'd be wise to behave yourself until we'd make it Bosco. Don't make me angry."

"WHAT?! But you'd said that you would take me to Fairy Tail!" Lucy scowled at him.

Salamander scoffed and looked away in amusement. "I just said that to lure you onto the ship, once you get to Bosco you're going to be a slave." He replied. The other male members of his crew let out a chuckle of amusement.

Lucy made a move to get one of her keys out but Salamander saw it and then created a red seal and a stream of fire circle around her before smacking it out of her hand and into the hands of Bora. "So you use Celestial Spirit Magic? Only the wizard who has a contract with those spirits can use these so they are useless to me. Oops." He _accidentally_ threw them out of the roof and overboard into the ocean.

Lucy looked down at the ground in frustration, with her Celestial Spirits out of the game there was no way she could defend herself and that her dream to get into Fairy Tail was over already. She along with everyone else on the ship wasn't aware of a faint flash of light and they sound of a single person quietly diving in the water and swimming away from the boat was also lost on them.

"I can't believe that you would use Magic to prey on others." Lucy cried.

Salamander ignored this and the held up a branding iron with a red hot mark on the end of it. "If you stop struggling then your slave brand will be quick and painless." He grinned.

"You guys are the worst!" Lucy shouted in defiance.

There was a loud crashing sound from above and they were all surprised to see that the pink haired man from earlier make his loud entrance through the roof and stared at Salamander for several moments before going down to his knees. Everyone who was conscious (aside from Rex) just looked at him in complete and utter silence. "I'm gonna hurl!" He complained.

"Talk about a lame rescue!" Lucy complained.

Then the second person or rather a green creature that no one had seen before jumped through the hole of the roof and landed without a word. "Your know Sceptile was told about your problem with moving vehicles but this was not expected."

"Hey Lucy, what are you doing here." Happy stated as he flew through the roof.

"This jerk kidnapped me and said that he was going to let me into Fairy Tail. How are you flying?!" Lucy asked in surprised.

Happy flew down and then wrapped his tail around Lucy's body. "Nevermind that, we need to get out of here!"

Salamander snapped out of his stupor and cast a spell. " **Prominence Whip!** " A red seal appeared and then multiple purple streams of fire then appeared and began trying to attack Happy and Lucy. He was agile enough to dodge them all and the purple streams of fire exploded in the air.

As he crew aimed a bunch of weapons and started firing, Sceptile sprang into action and then the leaves on her arms extended and began glowing green and she then swung them at some of the weapons that fired small magical blasts. Several of the weapons broke into two pieces and the crew aboard the yacht turned to face the speedy creature.

"When did that lizard cut our weapons?" One of the crew asked in surprised.

"Sceptile is not a lizard! She's more of a plant lizard." Sceptile responded, put off slightly.

Then she dashed towards the left when she saw a stream of purple fire being conjured up by Salamander and then chase her. Sceptile used her Leaf Blade again and clashed with one of the swords held up by the crew and she held her ground before overpowering the sword and then forcing him back into another one and then Sceptile's claws began glowing red. Her body was then surrounded by a brief yellow aura and she then dodged another blast of fire from Salamander.

 _This room is too small, a larger space would be better._ Sceptile thought as she hit the wall of the room and then began slicing it behind her, forming a circle. Then she received a blow to the back and crashed through onto the deck. Natsu was still unconscious though and the others weren't paying any attention to him. She retreated to the helm of the ship.

"Forget about them and move on." Salamander stated as he looked out towards Happy and Lucy, then turned his attention to the creature who had identified itself as Sceptile.

Natsu managed to gather the strength to get through the door and then managed to get some words out. "Fairy… Tail…"

From high up, Lucy and Happy were observing the battle. "Shouldn't we go down and pick up Natsu?"

"I can only carry one at a time and there is one more thing. I'm almost out of Magic." Happy added and his wings disappeared. They both fell into the water with a splash and surfaced almost immediately after.

Someone else broke the water near them and they saw that it was Rex who then swam over to them. "What's the idea of taking a bath when you're fully clothed Lucy?" He asked, completely oblivious to what had just happened.

"It's not like I wanted to take a bath!" Lucy protested and then stopped once she saw something in Rex's hand underwater. "Quick, give me those keys!"

Once she received the keys, Lucy then quickly took one out with a gold key that looked like an urn with two blue waves on it and grinned. " **Open, Gate of the Water Bearer: Aquarius!** " She called out and as she turned the key in the water and then the area around the key began shining and a spiral of water appeared.

Aquarius was a mermaid with long blue hair and a blue tail with several yellow curves on the side of the tail. She wore a gold armlet and bracelet and also had a golden belt around her waist. Aquarius was carrying a pale urn and for some reason had her eyes shut.

"A fish!" Happy cried out with his mouth watering.

"Not for you! Aquarius, take out that boat!" Lucy commanded but Aquarius didn't say anything and in response merely made a tch noise. "Hey, don't you dare give me attitude!"

"I don't think that's the best thing to do Lucy." Rex advised.

"Whatever." Aquarius brushed off as she opened her eyes to reveal that they were dark blue, seemingly without any pupils. "Listen, the next time you even think about dropping my key you're dead, got it?" She asked, glaring at the trio in the water.

"Yes ma'am!" They all stated, even though she was Lucy's Spirit.

Aquarius then began drawing in water to the urn, once that was complete she let out a roar and all the stored water then shot out of the urn and created a powerful wave of water that engulfed everything around her. The ship and the group who were already in the water despite the fact that Lucy stated she wanted Aquarius to aim for the ship.

"What's the big idea of dragging us into this as well?!" Lucy cried out in protest.

The giant wave crashed into the harbour and sent water everywhere, spreading it out through the Town. The leftover water began raining down for several seconds before it subsided and they were all in the sand, though Happy's head was half buried and Rex his the sand face first and skid through it for several metres. "This is gonna leave a mark." Rex groaned as he got up wiped the sand off of his face.

"You didn't have to go and get us caught up in the wave too! It was just the yacht I was hoping to get beached!" Lucy shouted to Aquarius.

"I'm sorry I must have got the yacht but accident." Aquarius replied moodily and then smirked at Lucy's outraged reaction. "By the way don't think about summoning for two weeks as I'm going on a date with my _boyfriend_." She put emphasis on the last word before disappearing in a flash of golden light.

"You don't need to brag about it!" Lucy shouted and looked around. "Hang on, where did Rex go?"

Back at the harbour the yacht was laying on its side and looking greatly damaged after that powerful wave, including some of the buildings, though none of them collapsed. The side of the yacht that was facing upwards looked like it had half collapsed and everyone was getting up and looking round, disoriented from the giant wave.

"What the heck just happened?" Sceptile groaned as she stood up. She was on the side of the boat and yelped as she realised that Natsu was there too, and saw that Salamander was down there and looking right up at them.

Rex came over and saw the carnage caused by Aquarius' large wave of water. This was not what he expected when he saw Lucy summon that spirit and looked up to see that Natsu was standing up, looking perfectly normal again.

"Natsu are you okay?" Lucy asked as she came over alongside Happy, although the cat stopped her by spreading out his wings.

"You said that you came from Fairy Tail Guild right?" Natsu asked calmly, looking down on Salamander and his crew.

Salamander grinned in amusement. "So what's it to you? Go and get him!"

"Don't worry about him. I should have mentioned this to you earlier but Natsu is a wizard as well." Happy revealed through a fish, shocking Lucy

Several of his crew member ran forwards but Natsu took off his red overcoat and continued to stare at Salamander. "Let me get a closer look at your face." He demanded and then smacked aside the henchman in front of him with enough force to lift him off of the section of the boat that was upright and into the sand next to Rex. "I'm Natsu Dragneel of the Fairy Tail Guild and I haven't seen you before!" He growled as Sceptile jumped down next to Rex.

One of the members of the crew cried out in horror. "Wait a second, that pink hair and the scaly scarf… he's the real deal Bora!" He began pointing frantically at Natsu.

"That's Salamander?!" Lucy was flabbergasted.

"You idiot don't call me that!" Bora replied, annoyed at this person.

"I remember that name now, Bora was once a part of the Titan Nose Guild and got kicked out for his bad behaviour. He was given the nickname Bora of Prominence." Happy recalled, glaring at the blue haired man.

"Stop gawking and get him and the green creature!" Bora scowled in annoyance.

Although Sceptile was irritated by this she decided to leave this to Rex who took a few steps in front of her. Some of the bulkier and larger henchman looked at him for a moment before laughing at the thought of him beating them. "If you really want a demonstration then fine." Rex grinned as he clasped his hands together.

" **Multitype: Flame Plate!** " His whole body glowed for several seconds before fading. Rex now had a short mane of auburn coloured hair that spiked towards the right. He wore a red jacket with a gold zip and there was a white stripe on the shoulder separate by another gold strip and had two black diamonds on top of each stripe. The jacket was worn over a charcoal grey short sleeved shirt and there was a black belt holding up a dark red pair of trousers and black shoes.

"What sort of Take Over is that?" "I think that's actually a form of Requip!"

 _Take Over? Requip? Those must be some forms of Magic I haven't seen yet, though I suppose it shouldn't be surprising to see them react in that way._ Rex thought. "Natsu! You can take on Bora!"

Bora then laughed and then fired a blast of Fire Magic directly at Natsu and he was completely engulfed in flames. Lucy made to move forwards but Happy stopped him with his wings. "It's okay, fire won't work him." The blue cat reassured him.

"Well you know what they say, the bigger they talk the faster they fall." Bora noted and turned away.

Everyone stopped upon hearing the sound of Natsu's voice through the flames. "Man are you really a fire wizard? These flames are the worst I've tasted. Thank for the meal though, I'm all fired up now!" Natsu grinned. A collective gasp was heard from the people in the area and they all had a look of shock on their faces, aside from Happy.

" **Flamethrower!** " Rex called out and then launched a stream of red and orange fire towards Bora's men, blasting a hole through most of them. Some of the few who had managed to get close enough attempted to take a swing at Rex who then jumped up and delivered a powerful Blaze Kick to the face and smacking him into several others.

" **Flame Burst!** " A small orb of fire shot towards the remaining group of henchman and spread out upon exploding hit everyone and did the most damage to the man in the center. Another Flamethrower was used to overpower a magical blast and finish the last person off. All around him were unconscious members of Bora's crew, all of them half covered in burns.

Natsu was grinning at the display of Rex's power. "That Requip was awesome! As for you, I don't care if you're a good guy or a bad guy nobody get away with dirtying the Fairy Tail name!" He turned his attention to Bora and then his fists were engulfed with fire.

Bora looked on in horror for a moment before using his Red Carpet spell to jump high in the air and then a red seal appeared in the air. " **Red Shower!** " Multiple oval shaped flame projectiles fired towards them as Natsu began running up towards him, with Sceptile frantically dodging all that were coming her way before disappearing in a flash of red light.

Natsu jumped up in the air when he was practically underneath Bora. " **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** " He shouted and then punched Bora, the force of the attack propelling him into the town.

" **Hell Prominence!** " Bora shouted once he saw Natsu from the air and then formed a purple orb and fired a laser made of purple fire that arced across the whole town, creating an explosion. Natsu stood there in his place looking mostly if at all unaffected by the attack.

"How is it that he was able to eat fire? Is it some kind of Spell?" Lucy asked in surprise.

"He has dragon lungs that allow him to breath fire, dragon scales that dissolve the fire and dragon claws for attacking with fire. Natsu's brand of Fire Magic is one that allows him to take on the qualities of a dragon. It's an ancient Magic that was taught by Igneel." Happy responded.

Bora was looking even more desperate and then let out a cry of anguish, gathering a large ball of purple fire above his head. " **Red Skull!** " He called out and launched the cartoonish looking skull towards Natsu who simply caught it and ate it up again.

"Oh man that was a mouthful! You're not too shabby." Natsu grinned as his put his fists together. A fiery red Seal appeared in front of him and put his arms together like he was blowing a trumpet. "I'm gonna smoke you like a fish!"

"You'll what?!" Bora cried out in horror.

" **Fire Dragon's Roar!** " Natsu shouted and then fired a powerful stream of orange flames at Bora that shot him through the town and several sides of the building and then right into the bell, ringing it loudly throughout the town. He shook for several seconds before falling down to the floor unconscious.

"That was incredible but… he overdid it!" Lucy cried out as she saw the devastation that was caused by a combination of the two males and their fire Spells, or assumed fire Spell in Rex's case. Several of the buildings were completely destroyed though others were burnt badly and a few were destroyed on one side.

The sounds of many people coming and lots of heavy trudging could be heard and a group of people eventually showed up in gear with lances and round shields with a flower like design on it. There was at least several dozen of them and they all were heading straight for the group of magic users.

"Oh crap it's the Royal Army!" Natsu panicked and then began dragging Lucy.

"Wait a second, why are we running away?" Lucy cried out in confusion.

" **Lava Plume!** " Rex shouted and then several pillars of orange fire erupted in front of the Royal Army which made them stop in their tracks until the pillar subsided and the smoke reveal that he had gone and changed back into his regular forme. He used Quick Attack to catch up with Natsu and Lucy.

"You want to join the Fairy Tail Guild, right?" Natsu asked Lucy and then grinned. "So let's go!" A smile then formed on the face of both Lucy and Rex as they both ran with him and Happy was flying overhead. The Royal Army was too far behind them to do anything and they all just stared at the group as they disappeared into the night for the Fairy Tail Guild.

 **Next Time - Magnolia Town**

* * *

 **Oh yeah! It's finally good to be doing this again, like Natsu says I'm all fired up now! So anyway long story short I was struggling with my mental health but I think that I'm back on track now that I've kind of rekindled my lost love for FT and have been trying to watch all of it again, though I still have to officially catch up on Tartaros and finish that alongside the Zero arc. Anyway I still have a few conflicting thoughts about splitting this up into other stories or one long story.**


	2. Magnolia Town

**Recap:** After finishing a call from his Uncle all the way in Unova, Rex found himself in the Hall of Origin on Spear Pillar and met the legendary pokémon Dialga, Palkia and Arceus. After explaining that his help was needed and how Rex along with Sceptile and his team was able to help them and that he had to be sent to the kingdom of Fiore in order to fit in and pass of his natural talent as Magic. After meeting two of the members of the Fairy Tail Guild, Rex helped another wizard by the name of Lucy and after getting into a fight with the crew of a rogue wizard fled after seeing the damage caused by Natsu, joining them and heading for Fairy Tail.

* * *

 **Chapter 2 - Magnolia Town**

The Magic Council had gotten wind of the incident in Hargeon Town for a meeting at Era. It was a town somewhere in the mountains of Fiore and the Magic Council Building was located on top of a rock in the center of the town. The Magic Council Headquarters was a palace that consisted of white stone and light blue bricks with long elongated windows with arched being placed over the walls. The entrance was a double door topped by a pyramid that was adorned by a bas-relief.

The meeting chamber was at the top of the central tower was an open area with a table and there were nine seats that were all filled up and a large round crystal table that a number of sheets of paper that were all related to the Fairy Tail Guild. There were four magic screens in the air that showed different images of the destruction in Hargeon Port.

"Those idiots from Fairy Tail have gone and done it again! What is up with them?" One of them shouted, banging a fist on the table.

"Idiots they may be, but I'm quite fond of their laissez-faire attitude." A young, smooth voice stated with his eyes closed.

"That's true, for all their destruction we mustn't forget the good they do." The older male standing to his left noted.

"Yes, they present quite the quandary." The leader of the Magic Council.

"I say we leave them be for the moment. After all, without them this world would be boring." The young man proposed and got a round of looks from everyone except the woman to his right who only smiled in amusement at the reactions of the Council. Nobody spoke up though.

 **Magnolia Town, Fairy Tail Guild Hall**

Two days later they had arrived at the Fairy Tail Guild Hall, and Lucy stared up at it in admiration. The Guild Hall had three floors, with each of them being smaller than the one below, resembling a pagoda in shape, with red tiles on the roof of each floor. The gate was green with a wooden roof that read 'FAIRY TAIL' in blue and two golden things that Rex thought resembled the guild mark, presumably they were supposed to be fairies themselves. The front door was orange in the shape of a curved leaf and had a heart that was divided in two.

"The Guild Hall is bigger than I expected it to be." Rex admitted, though was still impressed by the way it looked nonetheless.

"We made it back alive! (Aye!)" Natsu shouted as he kicked the door open and Happy flying behind him.

The inside of the Guild Hall looked like a giant lunch hall with rows of wooden tables and benches leading up to the bar. There was a board with various pieces of paper to the right and the wooden parquet floor and a mezzanine held up by wooden poles. Near the bar were two sets of stairs that lead up to the second floor. There were a lot of wizard of all different kinds of looks and they all waved upon seeing that Natsu had returned, one of them was smoking a pipe, another was wearing gloves and had a pair of ghosts by her.

One of the members who had buck teeth and wore a brown coloured jumper with a zip. "Hey Natsu! I heard that you destroyed Hargeon Port, did you have to go and-" He was interrupted by Natsu leaping up and kicking him in the face to the surprise of Lucy and Rex. The man crashed through several tables and hit the wall.

"That's for spreading a fake rumor about Igneel you jerk!" Natsu shouted.

"Hey don't blame me I was just spreading along a rumor I heard!" Krov protested.

"It was just a rumor?" Natsu frowned in response, still not getting it.

"You wanna fight?" Krov and replied and they began getting involved in a brawl which spread throughout the other member before most of them were all involved in fighting, even those who were on the other side of the Guild Hall!

"Now now Natsu, try to calm down and-" Happy began speaking to try and get him to relax but then got hit by a bag and ricocheted off of several other members.

Lucy seemed to ignore the fight for the most part, as she was ecstatic from merely being in the Guild Hall, though Rex was looking at the ensuing chaos in disbelief. _For some reason I think that_ I'm _going to be the normal one around here, everyone else is crazy… but that is actually totally cool!_ Rex thought, a smile creeping up his face.

"So Natsu finally made it back, huh?" A deep voice called out and they saw a dark blue spiky haired man walk through the chaos, facing Natsu. He was wearing a silver necklace with a silver cross hanging down and the Fairy Tail guild mark was on his right pectoral. Though the most worrying aspect of his appearance at the moment was that he was wearing nothing except a pair of dark blue pants. This is Gray Fullbuster, a talented wizard with an unfortunate habit of stripping.

"This time we're going to settle things once and for all!" He declared.

"Put on some clothes Gray." A female voice pointed out.

"I don't have time for that!" Gray retorted before he continued to run towards Natsu.

The woman sitting at the bar had long brown hair, and was topless but not naked like Gray was and had a curvy body. She was wearing a light blue bikini, gray arm bracelets on her upper arm and metal bracelets on her lower arm. A small pink belt held up her capri pants and currently she was drinking from a wine glass. Her name is Cana Alberona, also known as Fairy Tail's heaviest drinker.

"You see, this is why I don't date the men around here. They have no class." She grumbled, then began drinking from the barrel itself to the shock of both Rex and Lucy.

"Come here and fight me, Natsu!" "Not until you put some clothes on!"

"It's noon and you're already fighting like spoiled babies!" A large burly man had walked up behind them, and was even taller than Rex who was notably taller than Lucy and Natsu. His haired was white and spiked upwards and he wore a blue jacket with white marking on the back and a white rectangle with four pink petals on it. He also wore a pair of wooden sandals. This is Elfman Strauss, who believes that all you need to solve your problems are two fists.

"Act like a real man!" He shouted.

"I can't believe he's encouraging them." Lucy sighed, and Rex nodded in agreement.

Both Natsu and Gray then turned on him and sent him flying with a single punch. "Well that was helpful." Rex observed sarcastically.

"Geez it's so noisy in here. Why don't we go outside?" A smooth voice rang out from behind them and they saw an orange haired man wearing a green jacket and an orange shirt with a grey circle on the front of the shirt and he wore a pair of black baggy trousers and brown shoes. This man is Loke, and is ranked high in Sorcerer Weekly's Most Eligible Bachelor list and wore a pair of blue glasses. There were two girls that were fawning over him.

An empty bottle then hit him on the forehead and he fell down. Loke scowled as he then walked over towards the carnage. "Just wait here and I'll settle this so you don't get hurt, okay?" He told the girls who then cheered and he dived right down into the brawl.

"This is insanity! At this rate I wouldn't be surprised if the Guild Hall collapsed." Rex stated as the fight continued. Practically all of the tables had been destroyed, with only a few still standing albeit damaged in a few places.

"Hello, are you new here?" A light female voice asked and they both turned to see a white long haired female with a small lock of white hair sticking upwards. She was wearing a sleeveless, maroon coloured dress with a pleated skirt. There was a light pink bow on the top of the dress and she wore a necklace with a round blue stone at the end. This is Mirajane Strauss, and she also does photo shootings for Sorcerer Weekly.

"It's Mirajane! In the flesh!" Lucy cried out in admiration. Rex had to admit that she was beautiful and found himself blushing alongside Lucy.

"I don't suppose we should stop this?" Rex asked, gesturing to the ensuing brawl that took place.

"This sort of thing happens all the time, it would be best for things to run its course." Mirajane stated.

As they continued watching the brawl another wine bottle was sent flying in the direction of Mirajane but Rex reacted fast enough and then caught the bottle before it hit her, making Mirajane jump. After throwing it to the side however Rex got hit by another bottle which smashed into several pieces and cut his forehead, resulting in a small trickle of blood running down his face and he fell completely silent.

There was howl of anger from Gray. "GIVE ME BACK MY PANTS YOU JERK!" He demanded of Natsu who had them in his hands, grinning triumphantly. Gray then noticed a horrified Lucy and then walked up to her calmly. "Excuse me, can I please borrow your underwear?"

He was smacked away by Lucy who took a fan from somewhere and was then immediately picked up bridal style by Loke. "A lady like you shouldn't be exposed to such unpleasantness."

"Talk with you fists!" Elfman shouted and punched Loke away, only to to be kicked off of his feet by Natsu who then began butting heads with Gray who managed to get his pants back on.

Cana had had enough of this nonsense and then took out one of her cards which began shining a teal colour. "Alright guys I suggest that you pack it in." She threatened.

Rex stood up again and looked at Lucy and Mirajane. "Cover your ears, both of you." He instructed in a clear voice and the two of them followed that out of curiosity and then used Screech. Powerful sound waves echoed throughout the entire Guild Hall. Most of the members stopped what they were doing and they covered up their ears to protect themselves from the awful noise and several of them fell onto the floor and began rolling around in pain. The glass that Cana was drinking from shattered and Lucy and Mirajane now clamped their hands over their ears.

Natsu was the worst affected by the attack as he was shaking on the spot, completely frozen in horror. What Rex didn't quite get yet was that his hearing was better than almost everyone else and thus whatever pain that the other were in was multiplied several times for him and he fell to the floor writhing in pain once was the attack was over.

All of the Guild members stared collectively at Rex in astonishment with several people murmuring audibly. "Did this guy just do that all by himself?" "How strong is he?" "I hope he isn't like _her_."

Loud footsteps shook the floor and they turned to see a large person showed in black. " **What do you think you brats are doing? At this rate you'll destroy the Guild Hall!** " He demanded in a powerful voice.

"Oh hello there Master Makarov, I didn't know you were still here." Mirajane noted serenely.

" _Master?!_ " Lucy and Rex cried out.

" **What's this? Some new recruits?** " Master Makarov then looked down at both of the newcomers to the Guild before using Magic to shrink himself down to normal size, which was much smaller than they were both expecting.

Makarov wore a blue and orange striped hat with two ears and had some white hair that stuck out from the sides of the hat and had a white mustache. He wore an orange jacket that had blue stripe around the ends of the sleeves. Underneath the jacket was a white shirt with the Fairy Tail guild mark on it in black and he wore a pair of orange trousers and pointed shoes.

"Nice to meet you." He greeted with a wave of his hand.

"That's really the Master of the Guild?" Lucy asked.

Master Makarov jumped up to the next floor and hit his head on the wooden railing before righting himself with a slight grumble and then held out a stack of papers in disgust. "You've gone and done it again, you brats! Look at all of this paperwork the Magic Council has sent me! Are you out of your mind? All you brats are good for is making the higher ups mad at me!" There was a pause as Makarov was shaking on the spot and the members of the Guild looked down at the floor in embarrassment and guilt.

"However…" Makarov's frown turned into a grin and he set the stack of papers on fire. "I say to heck with the Magic Council." He threw it down to the lower floor and Natsu jumped up and started eating it.

"Now listen up, any power that surpasses reason still comes from reason right? Magic isn't some kind of miraculous power, it is a talent that only works when the flow of energy inside of us and the flow of the energy of the natural world are in perfect synchronization. To perform Magic, one must have a strong mind and the ability to focus, it should take over your being and pour out of your soul. If all we worry about is following rules then our Magic will never progress, so then the blowhards on the Council scare you and follow the path you believe in! That's what makes the Fairy Tail Guild, number one!" Makarov concluded and there was a round of cheers from the whole guild.

Once most of the furniture had been replaced Lucy and Rex were busy with Mirajane, talking about joining Fairy Tail. "I didn't realise it was that simple." Rex admitted.

Mirajane nodded. "Yep, we just need to get a few details and then you'll receive the guild mark in the desired location and colour." She explained.

Once that was over for Lucy it was Rex's turn to do so and he answered them as best as he could with the last one being his guild mark location and colour. After giving it some thought he replied, "Upper left arm in gold please." He rolled up his sleeves to roughly halfway and Mirajane pressed the stamp down and there was ring of light. The guild mark was just above his elbow. Lucy got a pink guild mark on the back of her left hand and stared at it in adoration.

"Hey, show off your Requip Magic!" Natsu stated as he stood next to Rex.

"Take a look at this, I'm an official member of Fairy Tail!" Lucy waved her left hand in front of Natsu.

"Oh yeah, how wonderful Loony." Natsu shrugged it off dismissively.

"It's Lucy!"

The other guild members were more interested in what Natsu had stated about his Requip Magic and a small crowd was gathering around him. "Oh really? What kind of Requip would that be?" Makarov asked, intrigued the most about this. It drew a parallel to another wizard who wasn't in the Guild at the moment, she was off on a job.

"It's called Multitype, and it's more of a combination of both Requip and something called Take Over." Rex explained, and then clasped his hands together and showed off his fire forme and also blew a stream of orange flames into the air for several seconds, that made Natsu drool slightly from the smell of the fire. It looked a lot better than Bora's.

" **Multitype: Splash Plate.** " Rex stated and then glowed for several seconds.

Rex now had short light blue hair and wore a blue short sleeved swimsuit with thin silver lines going down the sleeves and the side as well as a silver stripe around the bottom. Rex also wore a pair of sea blue swimming trunks with a yellow string and a white wave pattern around the bottom and on the right side was a round sapphire orb with a symbol that looked vaguely like an a in white. On his neck are gills.

"With this not only can I attack or defend myself with water but I can also swim underwater without needing to surface for air." Rex explained.

 _Now I see why he called it a combination of Requip and Take Over. He can switch between those different forms and they also have extra properties too._ Makarov thought with a smile on his face. Although he didn't say it out loud there was something interesting about this new member.

"He just seems more and more like _her_ by the minute." Cana observed with a smile and then the people around her began shaking in fear.

Rex didn't pick up the hint and looked around in confusion. "Seriously what's up with this talking about some unknown female wizard?" He asked, and the only response that he got was another round of shivers from everyone in the Guild sans Lucy, Mirajane and Makarov.

"Shows over." Rex noted and then switched back to his normal form, taking a seat at the bar and then realised that he was starting to get hungry and then groaned.

"Hang on, wasn't there someone else who came with you? What was she called? Sceptile I believe." Happy pointed out, raising a paw.

This caught the attention of everyone else present. Rex sighed and realised that there was no getting out of this one and pulled out a single Poké Ball. "This is a type of Seal I can use to summon them." He explained and then sent out Sceptile who looked all around her at the astonished members of the Guild.

"Sceptile wasn't really expecting that sort of reaction. So you decided on the Fairy Tail Guild after all?" She asked, and Rex nodded in return.

"Woah and what sort of Magic does she use?" One of the members of Fairy Tail asked.

"Well Sceptile doesn't really have a specific type of Magic. She uses several different types but doesn't have many spells, not that she needs many." Rex admitted as Sceptile took the seat to the right of Rex.

Mirajane heard his stomach growl and then came over with a small grin. "Well if you're hungry then I can make a meal for you at a price." She suggested.

Rex lifted his head up in an instant. "Really? Well I suppose if you could cook up a bowl of ramen with beef and a leafy salad with a hard boiled egg for Sceptile." He requested as the others began dispersing back into their normal seats and Cana resumed drinking.

It took Mirajane about half an hour before she returned with two bowls, one of them was pushed towards Sceptile who took the egg and sliced it cleanly into four separate pieces. "That'll be 2500 Jewel then." Mirajane stated and Rex gave her a few notes and they both began digging in, with Rex taking little bits of everything with chopsticks and chewing carefully.

"This is really good Mirajane. I think it's the best I've tasted yet. Seriously Sceptile you should try a piece of this beef!" Rex stated and he picked up a piece of the beef and held it out to her.

"You've forgotten that Sceptile is a vegetarian." She replied with an unamused look on her face.

Rex sighed in annoyance. "I know that but just try it once and tell me what you think of it, I could force you to eat it now." He joked.

Sceptile felt herself sweating for a moment and then took it and ate it. After she chewed it for a moment she then swallowed and smiled. "This is not that bad. It doesn't taste too salty and is not too tough. If Sceptile wasn't vegetarian then she would happily eat it."

Rex grinned as they continued eating their meals, though he was occasionally glancing at Mirajane as she went about taking other orders and handing out mugs of beer to the other members before she returned to cleaning several of the used mugs. Looking past Sceptile, Rex saw that Natsu was looking at the job request board and that a large bulky person (though he looked smaller than Elfman) who was wearing a necklace made of small skulls was also there.

They had both gotten through most of their meal until a young voice spoke up, catching their attention. "How come my dad hasn't come back yet?" The source of the voice was a boy with spiky dark purple hair and he wore a green shirt with a cream 'S' alongside brown shorts and sandals. Natsu and Happy looked up at Romeo.

Makarov grunted and took a swig of his beer. "You're starting to get on my nerves Romeo. You're a wizard's son have faith in your father and wait patiently for him." He replied.

"But sir, he told me he'd be back in three days and he's been gone for over a week now!" Romeo replied.

"If I remember correctly he took the job at Mt. Hakobe." Makarov recalled.

"That's right, it's not that far away so why doesn't somebody go and look for him?" Romeo persisted.

Makarov's patience was wearing thin at this point and raised his voice. "Listen kid, your old man is a wizard and like every other wizard out there he can handle himself! Go home, have some milk and cookies and wait for him to return!"

During the whole exchange Rex, Natsu and Happy weren't moving a muscle and there was a brief silence until Romeo jumped up and punched Makarov in the face. "You jerk! I hate you!" He cried before running out of the Guild Hall.

"That's gotta be tough." Lucy observed.

"I know it sounds tough but the Master really does care for Macao." Mirajane replied somberly.

There was the sound of a board breaking and they all turned to see that Natsu had punched it, cracking it and then began walking out of the Guild Hall and ignored the protest of the large man, Nab, who standing next to him. It didn't take a genius to figure out where he was going.

"This ain't good, saving Macao is going to be a big blow to his pride." Nab stated to the Master.

Krov looked out at Natsu with concern. "When is that kid ever going to grow up?" He asked to no one in particular.

Makarov sighed as he put two small bandages on his nose. "Remember Nab, we can't choose another person's path. Let him be." He replied, looking at the shrinking figures of Natsu and Happy.

"Why did Natsu get so upset?" Lucy asked.

"I think it's because he and Romeo are very much like each other. In some ways he sees himself in Romeo and that's why he got so upset. Although we may be members of Fairy Tail, we all have a personal issue with suffering and loss." Mirajane noted.

It was at that point that a crack was heard from Rex's bowl and he stood up. "We're going." He stated quietly to Sceptile and returned him back into his Poké Ball before running to catch up with Natsu and Happy. When caught up with Romeo he put a gentle hand on him just like other did. "It's okay, you will get to see Macao again I promise." He spoke softly and then carried on running to catch up with Natsu.

* * *

The following day they were on a drawn cart with Lucy sitting next to Rex. Happy was on the floor because Natsu was lying down opposite thanks to his motion sickness. "Wow that really must be a serious case of motion sickness? Do you need any help Master?" She smiled teasingly.

"What was that…?" Natsu groaned, not quite understanding her. Lucy shook her head.

"Why did you decide to tag along anyway?" Rex asked.

"I thought that I could help you." Lucy replied before thinking back to what Mirajane told her the other day.

" _Many years ago his father suddenly left him and never came back. Well technically it wasn't his real father but it was still the one who raised him, his name was Igneel and was actually a dragon" Mirajane explained._

 _Although she had heard this before in Hargeon, Lucy was still freaked out by this. "Are you serious? Natsu was raised by a dragon."_

" _Igneel found him one day, wandering on his own so he adopted Natsu and taught him everything he knows - language, culture, even his magic. Then one day he vanished without a trace and has been looking for him ever since, you could say he lives for the day that he finds Igneel again. It's actually kind of cute." Mirajane stated with a small chuckle._

 _Lucy paused at this and considered things for a moment. She now understood the reaction of Natsu but she didn't understand why Rex suddenly got up and followed him, was it because of a similar experience that he had? Not that it was in the front of her mind, she was more worried about Natsu's motion sickness and set off after them._

There was silence for several hours before the cart slowed down and then stopped suddenly. "All right, we've stopped moving!" Natsu cheered and then began dancing in the small room of the cart alongside Happy.

A voice came through the front of the cart. "I'm sorry but this is as far as I can take you. You'll have to continue on your own." The driver stated.

As soon as they stepped outside the reason became obvious. Although they were high up Mt. Hakobe not only wasn't it very cold but there was a blizzard too that made everything feel even colder. Upon stepping outside Rex immediately transformed into his Flame Plate and felt the most of the numbness of the cold disappear. On second thought, bringing out Sceptile was _horrible_ idea as she absolutely hated the cold though hopefully he didn't need to send out any of his pokémon for this simple job.

Lucy was not faring very well and was visibly shaking. "Why isn't it sunny like back in Hargeon Town? Isn it supposed to be the middle of summer?" She loudly protested.

"Well it's your fault for not wearing much clothing." Natsu pointed out as Lucy desperately tried to get his blanket off of his back.

"Aye." Happy noted.

"Well what did you expect when we're so high up? Of course it's going to be a lot colder up a mountain." Rex replied, an exasperated look on his face. Though in Lucy's defense, he didn't expect it to be this cold and for them to be caught up in a blizzard as well.

"Oh I know!" Lucy realised and took out a silver key with a clock symbol on it. " **Open, Gate of the Clock Constellation: Horologium!** " She turned the key and a blue and silver seal appeared in front of the air as a bell rang.

A tall brown grandfather clock with a yellow pendulum appeared and a smaller head with a pale face popped out on top with a face and mustache drawn on it and at the top of the main part of the body was a clock with the numbers on in numerals from I to XII. Horologium had a pair of black arms and legs, and Lucy could be found inside of the clock and was wearing a green blanket, presumably provided by Horologium for Lucy.

"A clock?" Rex asked, mildly surprised by this.

"So cool!" Natsu and Happy grinned at the sight of this.

 _Why are they excited about a talking clock?_ Rex thought with another exasperated look on his face.

Although Lucy was speaking nothing could be heard. "What's she saying?" Natsu asked, not even picking up a small voice.

"She's saying 'I'm staying in here and I'm not coming out. What kind of crazy job would Macao take anyway?'" Horologium reiterated.

"You should have asked that before you came out here. Macao took on a job that required slaying a big Vulcan, it a type of monster." Natsu replied, folding his arms.

"'I want to go back to the guild!' She proclaims."

"Then be my guest I say back." Natsu replied as the three of them set off to find Macao.

Despite Lucy's protests she carried on with them though didn't set foot outside of Horologium as they carried on with their quest to find and rescue Macao. All that could be heard as they climbed up the mountain was the howl of the wind. "Macao! Where are you Macao?" Natsu shouted above the howl of the wind and Happy was clinging on Natsu to avoid being blown away

"Macao!" Happy and Rex cried out, raising their voice.

There was a rumble coming from above them and they both jumped to the side to see a large and bulky white creature with several gray patches on his body and a grey pointed head and a gray tail. It jumped down and created a small crater of snow in the ground. It grinned as it looked at Natsu and then Rex in turn. "Is that a Vulcan?" Rex asked out loud.

"Where's Macao?" Natsu demanded.

The Vulcan then began sniffing the air and looked in the direction of Lucy and Horologium. "Woman!" It said.

"So it can talk? Fine by me." Natsu grinned as he put his fists together.

The Vulcan then dashed towards Rex who was surprised at the speed displayed by the Vulcan and reacted in time by firing a Flame Burst. This did stop the Vulcan as he jumped up over the attack and continued his charge. " **Swift!** " Rex shouted as he fired a group of golden stars towards the Vulcan, though it continued pursuing the Vulcan who tried to jump over and the stars hit him from behind.

It seemed to annoy the Vulcan even more who then jumped on Rex and half buried him in the snow before snatching Lucy and ran away quickly. "'Please come and help me!' She cried out in fear." Horologium stated in a voice that was getting fainter and fainter very quickly.

"What are you doing lying in the snow like that? We gotta save Lucy!" Natsu stated. Rex got up and spat out a mouth full of snow, ignoring the comment that he had just made and they continued climbing up the mountain.

The Vulcan had taken Lucy up near the summit of Mt. Hakobe and into one of the caves which was full of ice all around them and decided to start dancing around Horologium, who wasn't a spirit that could fight back. "Wo-man! Wo-man! Wo-man!" The Vulcan chanted as it continued to dance around Lucy and Horologium.

"'Can someone please help me? I don't care if it's Natsu or Rex I just don't want to be near this creepy Vulcan!' She cries." Horologium stated to no one in particular.

After the Vulcan danced around her for a moment before peering into the grandfather clock and leering at Lucy who tried moving backwards in the clock to no avail. Horologium then began glowing a yellow colour before disappearing but the blanket stayed with Lucy. "Tick tock! I'm afraid my _time_ is up!" He declared after returning to the Celestial Spirit World.

"Nooooo! Please don't go, I want an extension!" Lucy protested to no avail.

The Vulcan look startled for a second before going back to leering, though he turned upon hearing the sounds of distant footsteps and turned to see that Rex and Natsu were running towards it with Natsu behind Rex. "We ain't leaving here until we find Mac- AHHH!" Natsu shouted when he tripped and slid forwards, slamming into Rex and the two of them crashed into a pillar of ice.

"Why does Natsu have to make a dramatic entrance like that?" Lucy groaned.

The Vulcan looked at him in confusion which allowed Lucy to move away once Natsu recovered and got up. "Alright pal, tell me where Macao is! You can understand me right?" He demanded.

"What makes you think that this Vulcan knows where Macao is?" Lucy asked.

"He's a tall man!" Natsu persisted.

"Man?" Vulcan asked after considering it for a moment and Natsu nodded in encouragement and then pointed towards a hole in the wall. "Man!" He added.

"Hey I think he's trying to tell me where Macao is!" Natsu grinned in excitement and then followed the Vulcan to the hole in the wall and began looking out it. "Macao! Where are you?!" He shouted and then was punched from behind by the Vulcan and sent flying down the mountain. Once he was out of sight the Vulcan then began dancing on the spot.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried out and then stood up and took out a golden key, different to the one she used to summon Aquarius. " **Open, Gate of the Golden Bull: Taurus!** " She called and a golden seal appeared.

Taurus was a large white cow with black patches in his fur, including one on the right side of his face with his ears pointing downwards and brown horns sticking out of his forehead along with a ring on his nose. There was a strap across his body that held his axe which he took out and swung it around himself before placing it on the strap on his back. He also wore a pair of small blue pants and black boots.

"Why hello Miss Luuucy what nice boooobs you have!" Taurus commented with hearts in his eyes.

"Oh great, I forgot that he was a pervert as well." Lucy sighed.

The Vulcan stopped dancing around and then looked at Taurus with a serious face. "This my woman! You no touch!"

Those last words snapped Taurus out of his funk and he glared at the Vulcan in return. " _Your_ woman?" He shot back.

"Take him down!" Lucy commanded, pointing to the Vulcan.

Taurus took out his axe and charged at the Vulcan and swung hard and fast, and met ice as the Vulcan jumped into the air. "That's fast!" Lucy remarked as she turned to face the Vulcan.

It was at that point which Rex managed to get himself free from the ice by using Flamethrower to melt through it at a rapid rate though didn't see that Taurus had been summoned and then unleashed another Flamethrower that smashed into Taurus. The cow was then sent sliding across the ice until he came to rest at the base of another. "I'm sorry but it loooooks like I've failed youuu, mooooo…" Taurus groaned once he had stopped siding around

"First a Vulcan and now a bull? How many more monsters are there?!" Rex asked in confusion.

"Taurus is one of my spirits!" Lucy retorted.

Rex looked over at the unconscious bull with his axe. "Well I was too busy trying to get unstuck so you could have fooled me."

It was at that moment that Natsu had returned, seemingly unharmed despite falling down the mountain and looked at the unconscious cow. "When did we come across another monster?" He asked.

"It's not a monster it's one of my spirits, just like Aquarius!" Lucy retorted then looked at Natsu in confusion. "How did you get back up the mountain anyway? You shouldn't have been able to survive a fall down that far."

Natsu grinned as a certain blue cat entered the ice cave as well. "Happy saved me." "Aye."

Something didn't click with Lucy. "Hang on a second, if you get motion sickness why didn't you start wanting to throw up when you were riding Happy?" She asked.

Natsu moved back in horror at the thought. "Don't be ridiculous, Happy isn't a moving vehicle he is a friend!" He responded with a strange look. That sort of logic was so strange that they just didn't question it and decided to leave it be.

What was of more concern was the fact that the Vulcan was charging towards the group and then jumped down on Natsu, who blocked it without even looking and then turned his attention to the Vulcan. "Listen up, every member of the Guild is considered family. Mira, Cana, even those annoying jerks Gray and Elfman." At these words a ring of fire formed underneath him and both of the other people in the cave looked at him with a frown.

"Happy, Lucy and Rex are also my friends. So I'm not leaving without Macao!" Natsu shouted as he attacked with his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist and sent the Vulcan crashing into the ceiling, multiple large icicles fell down. Once the Vulcan recovered he then slammed his fists into the floor which sent all of the icicles flying in the air towards Natsu but the ones that did so melted on contact with his body. "Your ice attacks has no effect on fire!" He declared cockily.

All of the ice melting against the fire created a mist that revealed the Vulcan holding the axe that belonged to Taurus. "That looks like it could seriously hurt on the other hand." Rex observed with a look of shock, he had expected the bull to disappear after being taken out like that and then started moving forwards.

The Vulcan then began swinging the axe at Natsu who was fast enough to barely avoid the blade, although the speed at which the axe swung was just as impressive. After jumping over a low sweep Natsu slipped up and then found his back on the floor and panicked as he saw the Vulcan raising his axe. " **Slash!** " Rex shouted as his hands became glowing elongated claws and Rex intercepted the falling weapon with both of his hands and the ground beneath him cracked in several.

"What is he doing? If Rex gives up…" Lucy cried out, shaking at the thought of seeing someone cut in two.

"What are you… waiting for…?" Rex grunted as he struggled to keep the blade from coming down.

Natsu finally got up and then glared at the Vulcan. "I told you before that I'm not leaving him here without Macao! **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** " Natsu shouted as he charged forwards and smashed the Vulcan into the wall, knocking him out unconscious and upside down.

Whilst Natsu and Happy were cheering about the victory Lucy and Rex were both looking at the unconscious Vulcan. "Wasn't the whole idea of coming here to find Macao?" Lucy pointed out.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that." Natsu replied, grinning sheepishly.

Their attention turned back to the Vulcan once a pattern of yellow bricks began appearing all over its body before it shone brightly for several seconds to reveal Macao. His hair was a blue colour and he seemed to wear a necklace with an S that matched the one on Romeo's shirt that was worn on a blue shirt with a white jacket. What was more important and worrying was that he was greatly injured too and positioned in the same way as the Vulcan and Rex had been in at one point.

"That's Macao?!" Lucy and Rex shouted in surprise.

"He must have caught him by surprise with a Possession Spell. Vulcans are body snatchers that Take Over the body of anyone unfortunately enough to cross their paths in order to survive." Happy informed them.

Once they pulled him out of the ice, Natsu got out a First Aid Supply and then unrolled his red blanket and they quickly began treating Macao. "Some of these injuries don't look very good. From the way Macao looks I'd say he got a few good licks in though." Rex mused as he helped bandage Macao up alongside Natsu and managed to stop him from bleeding any further.

"Come on Macao, don't die on us! Romeo is waiting for ya!" Natsu desperately called out.

After a few nervous moments Macao finally opened his eyes and let out a groan from the injuries that he had sustained. "Natsu… Happy… where am I?" Macao asked then remembered what had happened and let out a sigh.

"Well since you've just remembered a better question would be what the hell happened here? How did you go missing for a week?" Rex asked.

Macao gave him a strange look for a moment before answering that question. "Well I came here to slay 20 Vulcans that he bothering the locals. I managed to defeat 19 of them…" Macao then coughed a few times before clearing his throat, "but it was the last one that got me."

It took Rex and Lucy a moment for this to sink in and they both backed away in surprise. _The job was to defeat 20 Vulcans and he managed to slay 19 OF THEM?!_ They thought at the same time with their mouths open.

"It sucks, how am I supposed to tell Romeo about this now?" Macao asked.

Changing back into his normal Forme Rex snapped out of his funk and punched the ice next to him, cracking it in a ring. "Don't be so ridiculous Macao! The fact that you defeated 19 Vulcans alone is incredible, you should be proud of that!" Rex explained in shock.

Macao looked up and saw that Natsu was grinning at him with tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes but the pink haired wizard brushed them away. "Yeah, what Rex said. Once you can start walking we can get back to Magnolia Town." He said with a grin, Macao gave a weak one in return.

* * *

 **Magnolia Town**

All the way back in Magnolia Town, Romeo was sitting down at one of the benches having gone off to cry again today after receiving another round of mocking remarks from other young boys like him and then thought back to the first time the teasing had started when he said that he wanted to be a wizard.

" _Everyone knows that Fairy Tail Wizards are a joke Romeo." The first one sneered._

" _Yeah all they do is sit around and drink alcohol." The second boy added._

" _When I grow up I wanna be part of the Rune Knights, not some dumb old wizard who smells bad." The third one grinned at Romeo, though it wasn't a friendly grin as it was more of a mocking one._

 _This upset Romeo a lot who then ran back to the bust Guild Hall and then began explaining it to Macao. "Please, dad. You gotta take a job request! I can't take much more of this!" He cried and sniffed._

 _Macao grinned at him in response and set his mug of beer down. "Of course I will son, don't worry."_

Romeo choked on that request he had made which was 10 days ago and buried his face in his hands. It was all his fault, he shouldn't have asked his father to go on such a dangerous job and now had to potentially live with the fact that his dad had passed away. Romeo should have ignored them and let them continue with their teasing of him.

The sounds of voices made him stop and then he looked upwards to see a group of people come in and when they got closer, his tears became tears of joy and began running towards them, seeing his father being supported by both Rex and Natsu with Lucy and Happy walking beside them.

"Daaaaaad!" Romeo cried out as he ran towards them and then jumped in Macao's arms with enough force to knock him on the floor. "I'm sorry about what happened!"

Macao grinned and winced from his injuries but was strong enough to sit up straight. "It's okay son. The next time someone teases you about becoming a wizard, ask them if your dad can slay 19 monsters because mine sure can. Let's go home now." He suggested as he got up and they began walking away.

As they did so, Romeo turned to face them and began thanking them. "Natsu, Lucy, Happy, Rex, thank you for rescuing my dad!" He called out and waved to them all.

 _July 4th, X784_

 _Sorry for not being able to send another letter so soon, things have been pretty hectic. I finally managed to do it and become a member of the Fairy Tail Guild! I'm not the only one who did so, as this other guy who goes by the name of Rex Vermend and he is something completely different to what you might expect. His ability to change into different forms, which he referred to as Multitype, is quite odd but it is pretty cool looking._

 _That isn't the only thing he is capable of doing, as he can also summon creatures similar to my Celestial Spirits, although given that he likely doesn't come from Fiore they definitely work differently from my Spirits. Well, it was a very cold day earlier on but now it's sunnier and a lot warmer too! I gotta go now as it's getting rather late and I'm beginning to get tired, though I hope father isn't too mad about this._

 _Love, Lucy_

As the sun set and night fell, the Guild Hall was mostly quiet and only a few people were left including Mirajane, Rex, Sceptile and Makarov. The white haired trainer then realised that he was going to have to sleep outside again and then yawned and stretched to stop himself from falling off to sleep and got up. Before he started walking outside though a small hand stopped him from doing so, belonging to Mirajane.

"Is something the matter Mirajane?" Rex asked, confused by this action.

Mirajane was silent for a second before asking, "Where do you sleep?" She asked.

This question really confused Rex but he answered anyway. "I'm used to sleeping outside from having to travel a long way to get to Fiore, so I'll probably find somewhere in Magnolia Town." He shrugged.

"Well if you want to you can sleep over at my house, we have a spare bed." Mirajane added that last one hastily in response to a few of the odds looks her offer got and she smiled sweetly in return. Elfman was surprised by this as well, they hadn't had a third person in the house for quite a few years and then looked over at Rex.

This went over his head though as Rex considered it for a moment before smiling in response, though Elfman was behind him so he didn't see the look. "Sure, I guess it would be a lot more comfortable. Thank you Mirajane" He replied casually.

Once the sun had set they all walked, leaving Makarov with a few of the other members of the Guild, including Nab and Wakaba. As he took a drink of his beer he then began to think out loud about Rex and then mumbled under his breath.

"Is something wrong, Master?" Wakaba asked. He is an older member of the guild with brown hair styled in a pompadour like fashion and was smoking a pipe and he wore a green shirt with a dark green flower pattern on it.

"I've been thinking and wondering about Rex." Makarov replied.

"Are you suggesting that he is lying?" Wakaba asked, but Makarov shook his head.

"I don't think that he is lying but at the same time I get the feeling that there is something more to him than meets the eye." Makarov explained, finishing his mug of beer and set it down. "Well we should all probably get going, you too Nab." He addressed the large man who then began walking out of the Guild, dejected at not having taken a job. Less than five minutes later it was completely empty.

* * *

 **With Rex**

It didn't take them too long for them to reach the Strauss household which was a nice brick red house with two floors from the outside and a plain white door and a chimney could be seen at the front of the house at the other end to the door and Mirajane opened it. Most of it was pretty light and airy, with the stairs to the right and then the rest of the house being to the left.

Mirajane guided Rex upstairs to one of them rooms and unlocked it, to reveal a plain white room with several pieces of furniture and a single bed. A couple of pictures hung on the wall above the bed though Rex didn't pay any attention to what was on the pictures and then took off his bag and left it on the wooden floor beside the bed.

"This doesn't look so bad." Rex commented and then saw a window that looked down on Magnolia Town.

Mirajane grinned, though it didn't go all the way. "Thank you, we own this house so we don't have pay a monthly rent. Aside from the beds the shower and bathroom can be found on the floor." She explained.

"Does that mean I have to pay rent for staying over this home then?" Rex asked, with a grin on his face.

Mirajane chuckled at that. "No you don't." She replied.

Once they were done taking Rex around the house he got back up and took off most of his clothes, only leaving his green shirt and his pants as he then lay down in his bed and began sleeping pretty quickly, leaving the six round objects attached to his belt placed all over the floor.

The two Strauss siblings moved down to the lower floor after a few minutes and something was annoying Elfman which didn't get unnoticed by Mirajane as she turned to look at him. "Is something the matter?" She asked.

"Why did you let him sleep in that room? You know who used to sleep in that room." Elfman pointed out carefully.

Mirajane frowned slightly as she searched for an answer. The truth was that she didn't really know why she did that, and likely she wouldn't know for some time but gave her answer. "Well… I'm not too sure of that myself. I just did." She responded with a tone of uncertainty and Elfman decided not to press it any further as they eventually went to their separate beds and there wasn't a source of light from in the house.

The following morning they were woken by the sounds of clashing and they rushed outside to see that Rex and Sceptile were outside behind the house and sparring with each other. Sceptile was currently trying to hit him with Leaf Blade and was surprised at the speed of her trainer and still tried to hit him nonetheless and got annoyed when her next attack hit a green shield.

" **Crush Claw!** " Rex stated and his hands were glowing blue and grew in size, blocking the incoming Leaf Blade and firmly holding his own ground before drawing Sceptile in and striking multiple times with Double Slap and using his own strength to knock back Sceptile and then caught her arm. " **Secret Power!** " This time a pink wave of energy spread out from Rex's hand and then a spray of mud hit Sceptile in the face.

Sceptile jumped backwards and kept her distance, realising that close quarter combat wouldn't work so much and then did a small dance as she used Hone Claws and then spread out her arms and a blue orb of energy formed within her arms. " **Focus Blast!** " She called out and fired it at Rex who blocked it and was blasted backwards from the force of the move, and he fell down.

"Owww… that hurt more than I thought it would. Stupid type matchups." Rex scowled under his breath and then activated the Flame Plate. " **Fire Lash!** " A whip of fire formed in the air and then he began to attack Sceptile with it who then tried her best to avoid it and then dashed forwards with the leaves on her arms glowing black with a red outline and then struck out with Night Slash.

The tip of one of her blades managed to cut Rex on the arm and a small trickle of blood began falling from it. "Too close, now see if you can stand up to a **Fire Pledge!** " Rex slammed a fist into the ground and a ring of pillars appeared around Sceptile before being hit by a larger pillar of fire similar but different to Lava Plume.

" **Water Pledge!** " The only difference for this attack was the fact that it was made of water but was also significantly stronger than the previous one and a rainbow appeared once the attack had finished, shining down onto Rex.

Sceptile reeled back from the attack, looking a lot worse for wear compared to Rex who was only bruised and cut in a few places. "Sceptile didn't expect you to be that strong. A few more attacks and she might end up being knocked out by you!"

"Come on, you can probably take a few more neutral attacks. Though I suppose doing all that dodging didn't help matters too much… that Focus Blast is still stinging by the way." Rex noted and he rubbed some of the bruises on his body.

They both turned to see Mirajane and Elfman observing them and Rex put on his white jacket. Sceptile opted for laying down on her back to relax herself from the intense training session. "You got up early to have a training session?" Mirajane asked.

"Yeah, though this was my first time actually fighting Sceptile." Rex nodded.

"You mean that you didn't train with them in spite of your Magic? What kind of man are you?" Elfman asked, clearly not getting it.

"Sceptile isn't the only magical creature from my country, there are a lot of others too. That and being able to use my Magic took a lot of training and practice, this is probably the first actual training session I've done with one of them." Rex admitted to their surprise.

"One of them, so there are more?" Mirajane guessed.

Rex nodded. "That's right. I've got six with me including Sceptile, though I'm going to save them for when I need one of them to help me." He replied carefully. Another reason was because he didn't know if they were also aware of his mission and would try to check it sometime later. The line of thought was interrupted by the sound of his growling stomach.

"But first a good breakfast." Mirajane suggested with a smile and they all went in, with Rex using Recover to heal the few injuries that Sceptile gave him.

In the Guild Hall there was no sign of Natsu or Lucy, so at least there was going to be some sort of peace for the moment and then took this time to think up of what to do at the moment. Rex took out a pen and a piece of paper and began to make a list of things to do while in Magnolia Town, with the first being to get a place for him to stay whilst he was in the Fairy Tail Guild and the second was to do a bunch of jobs to help pay for the rent.

Mentally smacking himself Rex sat up properly and tried his best to focus. _Why I am worried about much rent I have to pay out? I should be focusing more on the fact that I have to locate the Plates if I want to save the universe!_ He thought and then moved towards the job request board but three people were already there looking it over.

"Oh darn, I was totally going to get that book-stealing job." Levy complained. She was a petite female with blue hair, a yellow headband with a criss cross pattern on it and an orange dress with two red lines going up the back and sleeves that covered her lower arms.

"Sorry but Natsu took the job earlier and went off to find Lucy." Mirajane explained.

"It's probably for the best that you didn't take that job. The client contacted me and wanted to change the request." Makarov grinned, sitting on the bar with eyes close.

"Did the client want to cancel the request?" Mirajane asked with a frown.

"It's quite the opposite actually, the reward has been increased to 2 million Jewel." Makarov announced and opened his eye. There was a look of shock from the three people standing the request board.

"Two million Jewel?!" Droy shouted. Droy was a male with black hair with a strange tuft of it coming out and had a white shirt with two strange yellow belts that ran across the chest and a pair of green trousers.

"But that's the kind of reward they give for fighting monsters!" Jet pointed out. He was a sharp looking person with an open brown jacket that was lined with cream fur over a purple shirt. Jet also wore a strange brown and cream hat on top of his head.

Gray sat at the bar, not paying much attention until hearing that the reward had been upped to 2 million and smirked, with his Magic power affecting the small glass of water that he was drinking from and frost came up. "Well it looks like this job just got interesting." Gray grinned.

"Um, Gray? Nice skimpies." Mirajane pointed.

"Huh?" The blue haired wizard frowned and then looked to find that he had managed to unconsciously strip down to his pants and cried out in shock.

Rex didn't bother looking in Gray's direction and then got up from his seat and then walked out of the guild. Although the first thing on his list was to get a place for him to sleep and for all of his pokémon too, a map of Fiore and this world was also a good idea. He spotted a map of Magnolia Town hanging in the guild hall and then searched for an information centre for several moments, and then saw that the information office was found in the south east area of the town.

He arrived to see that the centre was a white, single story octagonal build with a domed top and a single entrance. Inside were all sorts of helpful pieces of paper including leaflets and maps of the town, Fiore and even the continent which was called Ishgar. There were a couple of officials who were presumably part of the administration for Magnolia Town and then spent some time reading the map and understanding where they were.

"There are a lot of countries in Ishgar." Rex noted as he sat down somewhere in town and began looking at the map of the western continent of Earth Land. "Bosco, Minstrel, Isvan, The Pergrande Kingdom to the northeast."

"Yeah and it says here that Fiore is the sixth most populated country in the continent with 17 million residents. The Pergrande Kingdom has over 100 million residents, that's crazy." Sceptile noted, reading some of the accompanying text about and then turned his attention to the map of Fiore and then one of Magnolia Town. "Sceptile hopes the rent for the house we're renting isn't too expensive."

There was a grunt of annoyance from Rex who punched the ground beside him. "Grrr… I should really get to my task with Plates but I have no idea where to start!" He cried out and ran his hands through his head.

"Sceptile suggests getting jobs done now, if we're lucky we can find one of the Plates." Sceptile replied, acting a lot less stressed than her trainer. Though she was also feeling a little overwhelmed by having to find thirteen other artifacts spread across Fiore and possibly the other places in this world. There would definitely have to be some long distance trips.

All of this earned him a few odd looks from the people surrounding him but they dismissed what he had said and carried on with their usual business. Well it was probably time to get back to the Guild and actually do his first job so he packed up all of his stuff and they jumped up, stretching their legs to get rid of the cramp that was building up from being in a different position to normal.

Upon entering the Guild again he could sense that things were different but he wasn't sure what it was, and Rex could see that Gray was absent from the guild hall, probably gone on a job of some sort. It hit him then that the general atmosphere felt a lot more nervous and it was certainly quieter. "So why does it feel so tense all of a sudden?" He asked as he sat down.

"It's because Erza is going to be due back any time in the next couple of days. She's Fairy Tail's strongest female wizard." Mirajane explained, walking over. There was a moment of silence before the quiet talking resumed.

"Uh huh. I haven't heard of her yet, so why is everyone so touchy?" Rex asked in amusement.

"It's because she really scary, just thinking about her is giving me the shivers." Wakaba admitted, puffing his pipe more times than normal.

"Scary? As in how scary is she?" Rex asked, amused more by their reaction rather than what they were saying about this Erza person.

"Wild animal?" "Scary monster?" "Try a complete demon instead." Were the responses that came from several of the other members, though this had the opposite effect and they could all see to their bewilderment that Rex was grinning from ear to ear. If they didn't believe it they were certainly doing so now, Rex was actually _eager_ to meet Erza and more than one jaw dropped from the thought.

 _That just gets me even more fired up to meet her._ Rex thought and then turned to face the entrance of the guild. On the outskirts of Magnolia Town a person with red hair and dress in armour was walking in the direction of the Guild Hall.

 **Next Time - On Rails Showdown**

* * *

 **I'll be revealing another member of Rex's team in the next chapter, yeah I didn't really have much in mind for after adapting episode 2 (which took approximately 70% of the chapter by the way) so all of what happened afterwards I just made up as I went along. On my profile there is a character profile for Rex that will be updated as more chapters are posted.**


	3. On Rails Showdown

**Recap:** Rex and Lucy finally arrived at the Guild and saw that there was complete chaos going on in there, and once the chaos stopped they officially joined the Guild thanks to Mirajane. Then they helped rescue Macao who had gone to defeat 20 Vulcans but was taken over but the last one, and Rex was invited to temporarily live at Mirajane's house whilst he searched for a new one. The following day he looked up maps of the world he had been sent to and learnt of Fairy Tail's strongest female wizard, Erza Scarlet.

* * *

 **Chapter 3 - On Rails Showdown**

Seeing as the guild hall was too nervous from the news that Erza was going to return soon, Rex went out and decided to go to one of the parks to relax and arrived at the South Gate Park. There was a tree in the center of the park and he decided to lie down and look up at the sky. Now that he had begun to settle down in Fiore he felt his mind wander back to the family and friends he had back in the pokémon world. Sceptile was out too and basking in the sun, the yellow seeds on her back looked like they were glowing in the sun.

As the clouds moved across the sky Rex spoke up and answered a question. "What do you think the others at home would think about my decision?" They exchanged a look before imaging how their friend Robin would react.

' _What an idiot, Rex. I can't believe that a numbskull like you would accept this without telling anyone and asking if there is anyone else who would like to come, it's really embarrassing.'_ The tone of voice was also accompanied by a sneer on her face. This response came to both of their minds and they sat up suddenly, looking at each other and sweating nervously.

"On second thought, probably not. I wouldn't be surprised to see her smacking me too." Rex muttered under his breath. After that image disappeared from his mind he then moved on to how other may react to his decision, which would be a lot more reasonable compared to that of his friends.

' _If two legendary pokémon have chosen you Rex then it must be something important. I won't stop you from going as it's your decision, but I don't like the fact that you have to go to a separate world to do so. Being able to contact you would help to alleviate some of my fears and concerns.'_

' _Why do you have to go off on some ridiculous quest like that nephew? You do realise that this is incredibly dangerous and that any severe injuries are your fault right? I would object but since my husband is letting you do what you want I can't say no, but make sure to check up on us every once in a while.'_ The two voices rang out in his heads and Rex grinned at the reaction of his aunt Sarah. Although she could be overbearing at times and disapproving of his actions she couldn't really forbid him from doing it.

"So do you suggest that we do now? Go find ourselves a house?" Sceptile suggested.

"I guess so, or we could look around Magnolia Town and see what the place has to offer. If I keep worrying about being the Guardian of the Plates I'm gonna lose sleep over it." Rex got up and then began heading out of the park.

"Guardian of the Plates? What is up with that title?" Sceptile asked with a strange look on her face.

"Well it's just something I came up with. Does that sounds good or what?" Rex asked with a smile on his face.

"Or what?" Sceptile asked, trying to keep a straight face as Rex gave her an annoyed look and they continued with their journey.

They headed back towards the information centre where they found a bunch of leaflets with places to rent in Magnolia Town. After gather several different flying as well as a pen they headed back to the guild hall where things seemed to be settling down and the general atmosphere was a lot more like its usual self, allowing them to concentrate as they began sifting through the list of possible places that they could rent out.

"This place looks interesting, 50,000 Jewel a month but it looks rather small and it has one bedroom. I think a bigger place would be a lot better, wouldn't you agree? Some personal space would be ideal for training purposes." Rex stated as they read over the first one, using a pen to mark this as an unlikely place.

"Sceptile sees this pretty big one but it's a whopping 200,000 Jewel a month and it's surrounded by houses on all sides so there isn't any sort of room for a training ground. There is nothing to stop us from making one near the town though." Sceptile pointed out and Rex accepted the idea with a nod. He didn't make a mark by it but moved on to the next one.

"Looking for a place to rent?" Mirajane walked over, balancing a plate of empty mugs and she began refilling them with beer one by one.

Rex jerked up to look at her and then nodded. "Yeah, though we are thinking carefully about it. I know Lucy said that she got a decent place for 70,000 Jewel in the town but I wouldn't mind having some space like the one you have behind your home." He explained.

Looking at him, Sceptile could see that he was blushing slightly and grinned at the thought of him being in love and then shrugged it off. It was simply down to her natural looks and nothing more. "Anyway, we need to get back to searching for our own home lover boy. You can daydream later." Sceptile teased with a grin and accepted a smack to her head, making Mirajane giggle.

"Very funny." Rex scowled but carried on reading through the flyer. There were several homes that he did consider to be candidates for renting. They didn't come cheap though it was nowhere near as expensive as the second one that they had seen, and the time they had spent looking over the advertisements and pictures of the various houses, some of them were too weird looking.

"What on earth is this Rex? Sceptile can't make heads or tails of the inside of this one." Sceptile commented, pointing to a house that seems to defy all common logic with the way the stairs were place. They were going forwards, backwards, upside down and in ways that shouldn't even be possible such as one staircase looking like it was going up and down at the same time.

"Don't stare at it too long your small brain will shrink even further." Rex snipped at her, happy to get an insult back at his starter pokémon and they shot a brief glare at each other before they returned to pouring over the flyers.

By the time they were finished it was already evening and in total they had eight different properties that they were actually considering. This was much better than they were expecting as it gave them a lot of freedom to compare the various properties.

Back at Mirajane's house Rex sat down on his bed and then looked through his bag and pulled out several different objects and then pulled out a grey rectangular object and opened it up to reveal eight small metal objects in them. They were all of his Badges that he got during his journey and then smiled at the memories of winning each one of them.

"Hey, check out this painting above the bed." Sceptile noted. The picture was of various members in the guild hall and it was dated May 13 X780, they could identify several of the members in the photo. Natsu, Happy and Gray stood out like a sore thumb as they were trying to hit and grab each other at the same time with the end result not being too well.

"I see Mirajane and Elfman there but that's only because of the fact that Elfman is at least a head taller than everyone in the picture present, though I have no idea why she decided to grow out her hair." Rex noted.

"Uh, Sceptile would like to redirect you to the white haired female in the middle. Sceptile believes that she is actually Mirajane." Sceptile guessed, pointing to a lightly clad female with a ponytail that was styled downwards.

"Huh? Wait, what?!" Rex blinked in surprise and then looked back towards the picture and realised that Sceptile was right. Although the person he was referring to shared the same hair colour as Mirajane and Elfman though it was shorter than both of theirs. "So who is the other one…?" He asked quietly but then yawned. He could ask Mirajane later, right now he was worn out.

The next day saw the return of Natsu, Happy and Lucy from their job, though none of them didn't look too happy. "What's getting you down in the dumps?" Rex asked curiously and Sceptile sat down next to him, she was eating another leafy salad and sliced a tomato into several pieces.

"We couldn't accept the reward for the job." Lucy replied.

"Why is that?" Rex asked.

Lucy then began explaining how they tasked with finding a book called Daybreak from a guy named Duke Everlue and burning it, but encountered much more than they bargained for as he had come with bodyguards and also used Magic though they were all defeated. As it had turned out the Daybreak book was meant for the job client and not for Everlue as originally intended so they couldn't really accept the rewards, despite Lucy wanting too.

"Huh, that does sound pretty crazy. After all that though I think that it was probably for the best that you didn't get the reward, sorry." Rex apologised as he saw the look of despair on her face.

"Well it looks like we gotta go on a new job and get some food money." Natsu groaned as he sat down.

"Aye." Happy agreed.

"Three more beers please, Mira!" Wakaba called out, puffing out small hearts from his pipe. "So when are you going to go on a date with me.

A purple haired wizard with glasses looked on at him in annoyance. "Come on Wakaba!" She cried out in protest.

"There is just one small problem though." Mirajane noted, not the least bit concerned by this advance and then a number of purple tiles appeared on her face before it took on the appearance of an older woman with puffy blonde brown hair and red lipstick. "You already have a wife!" She pointed out to the dismay of Wakaba.

Rex scowled in annoyance at the advance made by Wakaba and kept an eye on him and also said nothing of it. "So you're on a team with Natsu and Happy then?" He asked of Lucy.

"Aye!" Happy nodded, who was eating a fish. "Whilst everyone in the guild is technically allied to each other, particular groups of wizards that get along with each other form teams. Why don't you be a part of our team?" He asked.

"What?!" Rex and Lucy replied, startled.

This was enough to get Natsu to snap out of his funk and he jumped up. "Yeah! With your Multitype Magic you could wreak just as much havoc and destruction as I can and it would be fun to fight you too! Let's fight to see who's stronger!" Natsu declared with a flaming fist, ready to throw down at this very instant. Everyone in the guild turned their heads to see what Rex's response would be.

"Does Natsu always do this?" Rex asked Mirajane, stalling for time.

"Yup, it's always usually towards Erza." Mirajane added with a smile.

Turning back, Rex could see that Natsu was like a coiled spring just waiting for him to attack. "Don't think about attacking me Natsu or I won't fight you." He warned and the pink haired wizard stopped in his tracks, still standing. "Besides, I'm not in the mood at the moment." Natsu grumbled at this reaction and sat down at one of the benches, put out at not being able to fight Rex.

Lucy was standing over at the request board alongside Nab, reading all of the different jobs that were on offer. "Wow there sure are a lot of different kinds of jobs." She noted, not sure which one to pick.

"Let me know which one you pick. The Master is away at his regularly scheduled Conference meeting." Mirajane walked over.

"Conference meeting?" Rex asked, confused.

"Yup. It's like the Magic Council but it's not at the same time. Reedus, can I borrow your Light Pen?"

Reedus was a tall man with curly orange hair and a black pointed body, and was wearing a white shirt on top of his large round body. "Oui." He nodded and then handed over a small green pen with a yellow nib and Mirajane began drawing in the air.

 _Woah! If I brought this back to home I'm sure some of the people there could find a way to make it work and I could make a lot of money!_ Rex thought, a greedy look coming on his face.

The boxes of the diagram were in blue and the words and links to the different boxes in them, with the top one reading _Government_ that was connected to _Era_ which in turn was connected to multiple boxes all reading _Local Guild Master League_ and they were all connected to boxes that read out _Guild_.

"The Magic Council, Era, is the most powerful organization in the world aside from the government. They have ten members and they uphold all magical rules and regulations, if a wizard breaks magical law they would be tried. Then there are the Guild Master Leagues which are made up of all the different local Masters and they meet each other regularly to discuss the state of affairs, making them all interconnected. It's a pretty stressful job." Mirajane explained.

"With all the destruction this Guild does it's not surprising." Rex noted in amusement.

"I never realised that the different guild masters were all connected like that." Lucy mused.

"You could say that they are the glue that holds us all together. It's a pretty stressful job. If we didn't cooperate the system would fall apart." Mirajane agreed and began writing in the air again.

" **Otherwise the black ones will come! Ha ha haaa!** " Natsu spoke up suddenly from behind Lucy and in an sinister evil tone, making Lucy jump and scream in fright. He then threw back his head and chuckled. "That was too easy."

She didn't look too impressed by that and they were interrupted by Mirajane. "The ones that Natsu are referring to do exist though, they are the Dark Guilds and they don't follow the rules set by the Magic Council." She pointed out with a frown on her face. To the left of the diagram was a label reading _Dark Guilds_ and a blue ring around them.

"Yeah, yeah. Now why don't we go on our next job." Natsu grinned.

"Since the two of us picked the last job you can pick one!" Happy chirped, hovering at head height.

Lucy looked embarrassed. "No way."

 _Well there goes that team._ Rex thought, with a deadpan look on his face.

"Why not?" Natsu asked, confused.

"It's because you picked me specifically for that job as Duke Everlue was looking for blonde maids in particular." Lucy pointed out, still a little sore from that.

Natsu was still smiling though. "We didn't make you a part of your team because of that, we picked you because you were such a nice person." He explained. Lucy was still unconvinced about that.

Gray was sitting down at one of the benches nearby Cana and overheard the conversation that they were having. "I wouldn't bother staying with those losers if I were you Lucy. There will be plenty of requests from other teams asking you to join them." He smirked.

"Clothes, Gray." Cana pointed out and Gray panicked in realisation.

"Jerk." Natsu scowled.

This made Gray stop and then he glared at Natsu before butting heads with him and staring right in his face. "Did you just call me a _jerk_ , dragon boy?!" He demanded.

"So what if I did? What are you going to do about that?" Natsu shot back with a glare.

"You mouthbreather!" "At least I'm not a coward!" "You're a spineless wimp!"

"Looks like they're at it again." Happy noted with a dark tone in his voice.

All of them were ignoring Lucy, who was being carried in a bridal style by Loke. "You can join the Team of Love, ignore these two clowns." He began seducing her and readjusted his glasses. "If I took this off then I would be blinded by your beauty."

This didn't work like he intended as Lucy was just annoyed by this. "Girls really fall for this?" She asked, not seduced in the slightest.

Anything that would have been between them vanished instantly the moment Loke caught wind of the small chain of gold and silver keys and then he backed away, looking at Lucy like she was going to attack him for some reason. "You're not a Celestial Spirit Wizard are you?" He panicked.

"Yup she's got crabs, cows and fish!" Happy replied cheerfully on a mouthful of fish.

"Curse you fate why must you toy with me?!" Loke exclaimed rather dramatically and then ran out of the guild hall.

There was a moment of silence as they just stared at him, trying to comprehend what had happened. "What was up with that guy?" Rex asked, thoroughly confused. Sceptile had finished most of her salad and was coming over to join her trainer.

"Loke has a bad history with Celestial wizards. Rumor has it that he date one and it didn't end well." Mirajane replied.

"Sceptile is sure that wasn't the only reason he ran away." Sceptile teased.

"Aye." Happy agreed.

"Shut up you stupid cat! Why are you even encouraging him Sceptile?!" Lucy protested and then Natsu crashed into her and they both fell down with Lucy on the bottom. "Could you try to knock it off?"

"Natsu's the one who started it, I'm just finishing it." Gray protested, holding up the arm that punched the fire wizard.

"Clothes, Gray." Cana pointed out, and the blue haired wizard cried out in surprise.

"Well you were the one who was provoking me you dirty slimeball." Natsu insulted with a fiery red aura surrounding him.

"Oh yeah? And what did I do to provoke you, you fire clown?" Gray retorted with an icy blue aura surrounding him too.

"You pervy flasher!" "Pink haired punk!" They continued, getting in each others faces once again. The insults quickly went downhill in terms of effectiveness.

"Lame insults guys." Rex and Lucy pointed out at the same time.

"They start to run out pretty quickly." Happy added.

Despite their fighting the whole guild was laughing at their antics and didn't seem to be too upset about it, with Lucy and Rex slowly smiling at the sight. Neither of them were sure what to think of this and then the door slammed open suddenly to reveal Loke who was in panic. "Bad news everyone! It's Erza… SHE'S COMING TO THE GUILD HALL!"

This revelation sent a shockwave across the guild with several different reactions. Most opted for shock and then trembling in their seats but the others jumped up and began trembling too. Loke was running from the approaching sounds of steady metallic footsteps. Gray and Natsu were looking equally surprised and horrified too.

"You can feel the tension in the air, everything's gone dead." Macao noted.

"I can't believe the mere mention of her name sends everyone into shock." Lucy pointed out, looking around at everyone. Beside her Nab's mouth was wide open but he wasn't saying anything.

"Yep, that's Erza for you. She's the strongest female wizard." Mirajane added serenely

Erza had long scarlet hair that went down behind her and also sported diamond earrings though Rex noted they weren't as long as his and brown eyes. She was wearing armor which possessed a yellow cross on it and the guild emblem on the left in a similar colour to her hair. Her current armor half covered her upper arm and completely covered her lower arm with small wings on the elbow and a blue skirt along with tall black boots.

There was a large white horn that she was carrying with one hand that was decorated with various bits of jewelry around the wide end of the hall and everyone was staring at it and her, mostly Erza who was walking through the Guild Hall. She set down the horn and then addressed the whole guild, "I have returned. Where is Master Makarov?" Erza asked.

"Hello Erza. The Master is at a conference right now." Mirajane replied happily, being one of only two people who wasn't cowering in fear. The other person was Rex who was brought out more by curiosity than anything else

"Um… Erza-san, what is that you're carrying?" Max Alors asked. He was a sharp looking person with sandy coloured hair.

"It's the horn of a local monster I vanquished. The locals were thankful enough for me so they decorated it and gave it to me as a gift. Do you have a problem with it?" She asked with a glare.

"N-no! Not at all!" Max replied hastily alongside everyone else on the table.

"Listen up, I've heard that Fairy Tail has been causing nothing but trouble for the Magic Council." Erza began and then started telling off the other members of the Guild one by one, starting with Cana and then Vijeeter, Wakaba and several other members. Each of them reacted with a jerk and they shook themselves straight, obeying the commands that she was giving out. When she turned to face Macao she fell silent for several moments and simply looked at the older wizard.

"Please say something!" Macao protested desperately.

"I don't know where to begin with you." Erza sighed and put a hand to her forehead and then turned back to face the rest of the Guild. "Where are Natsu and Gray?" She asked.

"Aye." Happy stated, pointing to the two of them.

Natsu and Gray were now hugging each other with forced smiles on their face and looking like they were best friends. "Just hanging out like good old friends do, right buddy?" Gray asked hurriedly.

"Aye!" Natsu agreed, and both of them were sweating bullets.

"I don't believe this! They are acting like their best buddies! Why is that?!" Lucy asked in shock and Rex silently admitted that it was a little crazy that Natsu and Gray were acting like best friends even though they acted like the completely opposite practically all of the time. It made both of them wonder what the heck Erza did to them.

"It's good to see that you two are acting like buddies, though I suppose even the best of friends get into fights occasionally." Erza noted with a smile on her face.

"I'm not sure if you could call us the best of friends." Gray admitted, too scared to move.

"Aye!" Natsu agreed.

"This is crazy, he's acting like Happy!" Lucy cried out.

Mirajane had taken the time to create a diagram with Natsu and Erza and several arrows drawn on it in various different colours and was grinning all the way. "A couple of years ago Natsu challenged Erza to a fight and was beaten up very badly." She explained.

"I can understand that, and why are you drawing those sorts of diagrams?" Lucy questioned with a strange look on her face.

"After that she found Gray walking around naked and decided to beat him up too." Cana smiled slyly.

"Loke then tried to hit on her and she beat him up as well." Macao added.

The image of her beating up Loke was in both of their minds and Loke grinned at this. "I can't blame her for that last one though he's kind of a pervert." Lucy glared in annoyance at the orange haired male.

Seeing that neither of them were fighting was good enough for Erza. "While I was heading back to the guild I heard something that worried me. Normally I would consult with the master about this, but seeing as he is away at the conference I have to ask a favour." She explained and the guild hall fell silent at this, the silence was also accompanied by a sense of foreboding.

"I need you two to help me out with this task." Erza declared.

For the second time this day there was a shock that spread out through the entire guild and they began murmuring about what had just happened. "Did she really do that?" "Well that's something I'd never see." "Erza, Natsu and Gray? On the same team?" The various members began saying to each other and wondered if this was really Erza that was speaking.

 _Me and Natsu? On the same team?_ Gray thought, looking at him.

 _I gotta team up with this guy?_ Natsu thought, looking back at Gray.

They then glared at each other in dislike before Erza put a stop to it. "Problem boys?" She asked sternly and they both jumped up in fright and were acting like buddies again. "Good, we'll meet up at 7 in the morning at Magnolia Station." She informed, ignoring their protest.

It didn't take for the silence that followed to break and were surprised that it was broken by laughter of all things. Many heads turned in the direction of Rex Vermend who had managed to hold it in this long and was rocking with laughter as the scene before him unfolded. Instead of being afraid as most of the others were in the guild he was greatly amused at Erza's antics and everyone's reaction and this was the breaking point of it all. Rex was laughing so hard he fell against the pillar and took a moment to recall himself as he stood up and faced the entire guild.

"Who are you? You must be a new member since I haven't seen your face." Erza inquired, scowling at the fact that he laughed.

"My apologies for that, it was just too hilarious seeing your effect on the whole guild." Rex smiled as he stood up and corrected his footing. "I'm Rex Vermend and this creature here is Sceptile." He introduced himself with an outstretched hand.

There was a moment of surprise from the red haired female, as this was the first time she had come across someone who didn't cower in fear that wasn't allowed to go up to the second floor. Erza then composed herself and shook the hand, at least he was polite and being respectful. "Thank you, though I must admit I haven't come across a regular member of the guild who reacted in that way."

"Don't worry about it. With all of the things the whole guild was telling me about you I was expecting someone a lot different." This made Erza turn around to everyone with a questioning look and they all backed away in fear, whimpering at the expression on her face. To be fair Erza wasn't trying to be scary but it didn't really help her.

"Oh yeah, Rex could be of great help to you. His Multitype Magic is a lot like yours." Mirajane recommended.

"Oh?" Erza asked before turning to face Rex. "Very well then, I will expect to see you at seven am sharp tomorrow morning as well." With that she then turned and began walking out of the Guild.

"Natsu, Gray, Erza and Rex. Those four together could easily be the strongest team that Fairy Tail has ever put out." Mirajane realised after thinking it through for a moment and Lucy pictured them in her head. Although she hadn't seen much of his power it certainly looked strong in its own right, and with the creatures he could summon too it was completely possible that Rex was one of the strongest wizards in the guild.

Later that evening Rex and Lucy were sitting at the bar with Mirajane doing a bit of work at the counter and she was talking to the two of them. "It's probably for the best that you go along with them as well Lucy. They'll be at each other's throats when Erza isn't looking at them and the two of you can keep an eye on each of them." Mirajane explained.

"Wait, why do I have to come along with them?" Lucy pointed out.

"Didn't you defeat a giant gorilla maid with one hand though? That's reason enough for you to come along." Rex replied.

Lucy groaned. "Not you too. I told you about what happened, remember?" She reminded him and was crying in a comical fashion.

* * *

 **Eisenwald Guild**

The Eisenwald Guild was located in a dark forest where most of the trees surrounding the hall were dead. It looked like the decay was starting to set it on the outside and there was black clock with the rest of the clock being engraved in gold, including the numbers. Two members were walking down the main corridor of the Dark Guild in conversation.

"I wonder which guild the armoured chick belongs to?" One of them asked.

"Does it matter? You're not going to date her if she's going around dressed like that." The other one said, and the first member suddenly glared fiercely at him with intense dislike.

"What did you say?!"

"Cut it out you two." A third voice cut in. There was a fourth person, who was undoubtedly the one who stood out the most with his long with hair that was styled not unlike a Mohawk with a tuft hanging over the left side of his face. He had distinct sharp eyes and tattoos on his arms and body as well as wearing a hakama. The defining thing about him was that he carried a large scythe that was meant to look intimidating.

"Is Kageyama back yet?" The scythe wielding man inquired.

"No. It isn't easy to break the seal containing Lullaby." The third person explained, unfazed by the other two arguing. They were eventually joined by a crowd of people who were also their comrades in arms.

"Now is not the time to relax. We strike now, when the old farts are at their meeting!" The gray haired male declared, pointing his scythe forward.

* * *

 **Magnolia Station**

At Magnolia Station the whole group was waiting for Erza Scarlet to accompany them, though more accurately it was Rex, Lucy and Happy who were waiting for her to show up. The other people were staring and making strange comments at them, this was because of the fact that the other members of the group, Natsu and Gray, were at it yet again and were right in each others faces.

"I hate this! Teaming up with you is worst idea ever!" Natsu complained.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Erza made a huge mistake inviting a loser like you!" Gray shot back.

They continued arguing whilst the other three looked on, also trying to not look like they were with the pair of wizards that were at each other's throats. "Why did the two of you come along?" Happy asked, eating a fish and acting as if the argument was something normal.

"Well Mirajane recommended me to Erza and I wanted to go along so I had no arguments about joining the team. Lucy ended up being strung along thanks to Mirajane who wanted us to help stop the two of them from fighting all the time." Rex explained though he wasn't smiling as he just stared at the pair of them.

"You don't seem to be doing a good job about it though." Happy observed without any tact in his voice.

"Yeah but sadly their hopeless." Lucy admitted with a sigh. On her lap was a small white creature with black beady eyes and what looked like an ice cream cone for a nose. This was her pet from the Celestial World which she named Plue who was shaking despite it not feeling very cold.

A mischievous grin then formed across his face and pretended to look surprise. "Oh look Erza is coming up towards us!" He suddenly stated.

The two of them twitched for a moment before hugging each other and acting all buddy buddy as they had back in the guild until they realised that she wasn't coming and that this was just a very cruel trick played on them and they both faced Rex with an unhappy look on their faces. "That was a dirty trick you little-!" They started but dropped it and groaned.

"Would you like some fish to help your mood?" Happy offered but Natsu rejected it with a sullen look on his face.

This time the sounds of metallic footsteps could be heard for real and Lucy and Rex turned to face Erza but their greeting was cut off when their jaws dropped. Erza had taken a ridiculous amount of luggage with them to the point that it piled up until it towered above her. Natsu and Gray went buddy buddy for real. "It's time to go good buddy!" "Aye!"

"One Happy is enough!" Lucy shouted them.

Erza gave a smile at the two of them and looked over at Rex for several seconds before moving to greet Lucy. "I didn't get your name back at the guild hall, who were you again?" She asked. From behind her both Natsu and Gray were still at each other's throats but they acted like friends whenever she turned around to check up on them and then straight back to glaring at each other when she was focusing on Lucy.

"Oh right I never introduced myself. My name is Lucy, nice to meet you. Mirajane suggested that I go with you to get some experience." She introduced.

"Lucy... I've heard about you now that I know your name. Apparently you managed to defeat a gorilla using only your pinkie finger." At this Lucy jumped up in surprise, "That sort of strength would be helpful on this mission." Erza smiled.

 _On second thought I really don't want to go._ Lucy swallowed and then felt her heart beating faster as she shook on the spot.

During this conversation the two other male members of the team stopped fighting and then faced Erza, though Natsu was looking more at Rex with a determined expression on his face and he realised where this was going to go. "Fine Erza, I'll come with you on one condition."

"Shut up, you idiot!" Gray frantically told him and then appealed to Erza. "I don't need to set any conditions to work with you!"

Erza didn't seem all that upset about it. "Oh, and what would that be?" She asked calmly.

Natsu then grinned and pointed to Rex. "When we get back I wanna fight ya Rex! This time you can't say no!" He declared.

Everyone else turned to face Rex who then looked over to Erza for any sort of help though her expression was unreadable. Turning back to face Natsu he saw that his two hands were balled up into fists and came to the conclusion that Natsu was going to keep that up until he gave into that demand. "Fine, but not until after we finish this mission and when I am ready, understand?" Rex replied in a tone that offered no argument.

Erza smiled again at this. Back at the guild hall she wasn't too sure what to make of him exactly and had seriously thought about reprimanding him for the way he acted around her. Something that did surprise her was his lack of a reaction to her return. But with the way he handled this challenge from Natsu she held a better opinion of him, seeing that he was a firm but fair person. "Do you want to issue a challenge?" She asked Gray who shook his head quickly.

This didn't seem to bother Natsu that much and then his head was on fire. "Oh yeah, I am all fired up now!" He declared and they went onto the train.

Not even ten minutes had passed and Natsu was laying down on the train in agony, his face looking pale from motion sickness. Erza, Rex and Lucy were sitting on to the opposite side of him and Gray and Happy were sitting in the same row and their attention was turned towards the pink haired wizard. Gray was at the window seat looking out as the country passed by.

"I swear Natsu, you're totally pathetic. Go and sit on the other side." Gray scowled at him.

"It really must be hard for him to get around like this." Lucy sympathised.

"Come over here Natsu let me help you." Erza stated smoothly, with Lucy sitting on the opposite row and Rex leaning backwards in his seat as Natsu began leaning over towards Erza who then smiled before punching him in the gut, which knocked him unconscious and he leaned over both of their laps. "That's better."

"I swear if you throw up on me Natsu…" Rex threatened, and the Lucy and Gray sweatdropped at the next motion he made.

"Now that I think about I've never seen any sort of Magic similar to the one that Natsu uses. What sort of magic do you use Erza?" Lucy asked.

"That's a good question." Erza nodded.

"Erza's magic is really pretty. Her enemies blood goes spurting everywhere!" Happy stated cheerfully as he waved his arms everywhere. This made both Rex and Lucy gag slightly, the thought of ridiculous amounts of blood spraying everywhere didn't exactly help the situation.

"Personally I think that Gray's is a lot more beautiful than mine."

Gray put his hands down from the open window. "Oh you mean like this?" He asked and then placed his right hand into his outstretched left hand and then a small light blue seal appeared and cold steam emitted from it for a few seconds before a crystal construction of the guild mark appeared and floated in the air. "I use Ice Magic." He explained.

"So that's why you don't get on very well with Natsu. Fire and ice do not mix at all." Rex guessed.

"I never thought of it that way." Erza admitted.

"Nah, I just hate his guts. So what's got you so worried that you would actually want us to come along with you Erza?" Gray brushed off the guess from asked, changing the subject and turning to face Erza.

The red haired wizard dropped her smile. "Right. It all started from when I had finished my previous job. I stopped on the way to a local bar that was a popular place for wizards to gather…"

 _She was carrying her horn as well as dragging her luggage. Several people stopped and looked on in awe as they saw her pass, but Erza ignored them. She was heading straight for a local wizard bar to rest for a moment before heading back to Guild. Erza ordered a strawberry flavoured drink and took no notice of anyone else in the room until a group of wizards caught her attention._

 _"Where the hell is that liquor waiter?" One of them demanded. This person was a tall man with a square-shaped face and dark hair, which is arranged on the front in a flat tuft going upwards. On his face are distinctive whiskers-like things, with each cheek bearing three of them. He donned a simple attire consisting of a zipped, brownish jacket with a large collar over a dark shirt, dark pants and simple shoes. He took the beer using Telekinesis._

 _"Pipe down Byard, we're not supposed to make a scene." The second person said. He was a tanned man with a pointed nose and a sharp chin. He had dark lines circling his eyes and dons a distinctive jacket, light in the low part and dark in the upper one and on the sleeves, which comes equipped with a tight hood covered in black and light stripes. He wore a light shirt under this signature jacket of him, simple pants and shoes._

 _"How can anyone take this aggravation and not get mad?! We finally find where Lullaby is and then there is that seal protecting it!" Byard said loudly and they quickly turned to him._

 _"What did Rayule say? He said, pipe down." A third person said. He was a short, hunched and fat man with strange facial features. His attire consisted of a crimson jacket with lighter edges and a high collar, held closed right under it but otherwise being left open, over a light shirt, which, being quite short, revealed much of his stomach, as well as loose, military-spotted pants that was held up by a simple belt and tucked inside boots. He also has a massive necklace around his neck, consisting of several, very large metal discs connected by a rope._

 _"Damn!" Byard swore and quickly began drinking._

 _"Relax. The seal can't be broken by numbers alone." The final man said calmly, appearing not as bothered as the other men at the table. He was a young man with black eyes and black hair which he tied in a short, spiky ponytail. He wore a white shirt with a high collar and an intricate symbol on its back over a plain, dark red undershirt. He also wears a pair of aquamarine pants, black shoes and small black earrings in each ear._

 _"Wait, you've found a way to break the seal? That's Kage for you!" Rayule said in a lowered but impressed voice, but Erza was still listening, having slowly finished her strawberry drink._

 _"Tell Erigor I'll return with Lullaby in three days." Kageyama said and stood up to leave_.

"Isn't Lullaby a song that you sing to make children sleep?" Rex noted, not sure what Eisenwald would want to do with a song.

"Lullaby?" The team members opposite them repeated, looking at each other.

Something went on that Rex wasn't aware of and exchanged a frown with Erza. "You've heard of this Lullaby object?" He asked in confusion.

The two wizards nodded and then began explaining what had happened before they returned and how they ran into each other after they completed their separate jobs. Gray was rather desperate to get back to the Guild because he had heard that Erza was returning back to the guild when they were ambushed by several other wizards who then captured Happy and tried to eat him. He and Natsu made quick work of them but after mentioning Lullaby they were suddenly pulled away by a strange shadow.

"I see. I'm only hypothesising but it sounds like those were members of the Eisenwald guild who didn't like what was going to go down and tried to bailed on them." Erza guessed.

"So if those members wanted nothing to do with this Lullaby then it must be a powerful magic tool." Rex deduced.

"Indeed. At first I thought it was a job to get a powerful magic tool. Then I heard the name Erigor and I realised that it was a Dark Guild who managed to find it." Erza continued and paused as she lingered on that name. "Erigor… he is the ace of Eisenwald and also known as Erigor the Reaper." The mention of the nickname sent shivers down the spines of the other conscious members.

"When the Magic Council outlawed assassination requests six years ago Eisenwald decided that money was more important than the Magic Council and have been ignoring their rules ever since." Erza carried on and the other members of the team began thinking about Eisenwald and why they would want the Lullaby.

"Okay, now I want to go back to Magnolia Town!" Lucy complained, shaking in her seat.

"Eww, Lucy's slimy!" Happy stated, and she shot an annoyed glare at him.

"Lullaby…" Lucy muttered to herself. That name seemed familiar but she could put her finger on it right now.

"What are we going to do about Eisenwald?" Gray asked.

"We're going to storm the entire guild. I don't believe that I can do it on my own which is why I wanted help from Gray and Natsu." Erza finished and they saw that they were coming to the next stop as the train began slowing down.

"That sounds like an awesome mission." Gray commented with a grin on his face.

The group had exited the train at Onibas Station with Rex frowning in thought. Something definitely felt upwards and then he stopped and turned around. "Hold on guys, I think we're forgetting something." Rex spoke up. The others then turned to face him in confusion.

"We've forgotten Natsu!" Lucy panicked and there was a joint look of shock across the faces of Gray, Erza and Rex.

"How foolish of me! I was caught up with talking to you all about the Eisenwald guild I forgot Natsu was with us. Natsu can't handle moving vehicles! Please hit me for my penance!" Erza declared and closed her eyes, bracing herself for the next hit.

Rex and Lucy stared at her in disbelief and he shook his head. "We don't need to hit you, we need to stop the train." He shook his hands.

Back on the train Natsu was still shaking from his motion sickness having managed to sit up, though he was still waiting for the train to stop. He was the only person in the carriage until the door that he could just about make out opened to reveal the fourth wizard that Erza had told the others about, Kageyama, entering the carriage and walking over to the seats that Natsu was sitting down on and took note of the guild mark on his arm.

"So you're from the Fairy Tail guild, huh? How is the Magic Council treating you these days?" Kageyama asked and sat down opposite Natsu, smiling calmly. Though he got no answer for it Kageyama didn't wait for it and then kicked him in the face. "You Fairy Tail members are just blindly following the rules of the Council. Do you know what you look like to us? Harmless little insects!"

Natsu managed to gather enough strength to stand up and then both of his fists were surrounded by fire and he got ready to fight, with Kageyama backing away in amusement. The train then jolted and Natsu felt sick again.

Kageyama laughed. "What sort of Magic is that? This is some real Magic. **Knuckle Shadow!** " Kageyama declared as he placed a hand on the floor of the carriage. A purple seal appeared and then several fists made out of shadows rose up from the ground and pummeled Natsu backwards. "It's all in the follow through."

"That Magic…" Natsu noted.

The train then jerked before screeching to a halt and Natsu no longer felt motion sickness. This was thanks to Erza back down the line where she pulled the emergency stop lever despite the protests of the employees there. "Please understand, we are doing this for one of our comrades." She explained and the employee continued to protest.

"I'm starting to think that maybe all of the wizards in Fairy Tail are a little bit crazy." Lucy stated, giving Erza a funny look.

"Not all of us." Gray countered, managing to strip down to his pants.

"Oh yeah, where are your clothes?" Lucy retaliated quickly.

Back on the train Natsu got up and saw a strange looking object on the floor. It was wooden with a three eyed skull and holes down the main body of the object. "The train stopped… what's up with that?"

Kageyama looked afraid of something and quickly picked it up. "You saw it?" He asked.

"That's enough out of you, it's payback time!" Natsu growled as he got up and then jumped forwards using his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist to attack.

" **Guard Shadow!** " Kageyama countered and multiple purple hands then moved in front of the attack and there was an explosion that revealed the black haired man was pushed backwards a few rows and the sides of the carriage were half destroyed. "Lucky shot." He spat.

"How do you like a Fly Punch?" Natsu grinned, holding his fist in the air.

That grin faded almost instantly with the following announcement. _"Attention all passengers, our emergency stop was a false alarm. We apologise for the delay."_

Natsu began panicking and then quickly began gathering up his stuff. "I'm not gonna let you off that easily. You're messing with Eisenwald now." Kageyama declared, getting up and ready to continue fighting this pesky fly.

"Oh so you're with Eisenwald huh? Well I'll show you what happens when you mess with Fairy Tail, but first let's take this outside." Natsu stated as he felt the train moving and tried to keep himself together as the train began to move again.

"You're not going to get away!" Kageyama declared.

But it wasn't going to work for him as Natsu then ran out of the train through the window and then found Gray running into himself and they headbutted each other. What happened next with the others was that they hired a Magic Mobile, a type of car that runs on magic that would be supplied through an SE Plug that was currently attached to the driver of the vehicle, Erza. She and Rex were sitting next to each other and he was doing his best not to fall off, Gray was on the roof and hanging on for dear life and both Lucy and Happy were inside the vehicle.

They came to a stop once they headbutted each other and were sprawling on the floor. "That hurt you idiot!" Gray scolded at him.

"Hey what's the big idea of leaving me on the train?!" Natsu demanded, ignoring what Gray had just said.

Erza took off the SE Plug. "We're sorry about that. Anyway what matters is that you're unharmed Natsu and we're grateful for it." She apologised then smacked him against her breast, completely ignoring the fact that she was still wearing her armour so he got a hard smack to the side of his head.

"It's okay." Natsu whimpered and rubbed the side of his head before thinking back to the train. "Well I was attacked by some weird guy on the train. He had a strange three eyed skull and looked like he was in a rush. I think he said that he was a member of Eisenwald." He recalled.

There was a look of shock from the group and then Erza smacked him hard across the face " _You fool!_ " She shouted at him. "I told you about this on the train. Where you even listening to me?" Erza asked.

Natsu was genuinely confused at this. "What? But this is the first time I've heard about this." He replied honestly and Erza continued to berate him.

Lucy, Rex and Gray all gave Erza a withering look. "I can't believe that she's already forgotten what she did to Natsu." The white haired wizard stated, putting a hand to his face.

"That's Erza for ya!" Happy chimed in.

"Lullaby…" Lucy frowned, thinking more about it now and then widening her eyes as she remembered. "It's a tool used for killing people with Death Magic!"

"Death Magic?!" Rex asked, not liking where this was going.

"There are Magic Items that are forbidden by the council for any sort of use." Lucy explained to him.

They hurried to get back onto the Magic Mobile with Natsu getting inside the car reluctantly, not really willing to go from one moving vehicle to another and was promptly shoved in by Gray who followed him and Lucy and Happy also came inside. Riding the vehicle towards the next station was rough and they often jumped whenever they came across a crack in the road that was deep enough to send them flying in the air for a second.

They came to a halt as Erza took her hands off of the wheel and she began panting for a second to recuperate. "Let me have a go, you can steer the thing whilst I supply it with Magic." Rex suggested, pulling back one of his sleeves and he was handed the SE Plug and then slipped it over his hand and then concentrated.

There was a moment where nothing happened until the car began revving up with a slightly different sound than when Erza had used it before the Magic Mobile shot forwards faster than the last time, with the speedometer reading around 80-90 miles per hour. This made the ride for the group inside the actual car even worse, any sort of protest was drowned out by the bumpy ride.

"Keep doing whatever is your doing, don't stop!" Erza shouted to him as she swerved to avoid a pothole in the road.

In the vehicle the others weren't faring as well with the four of them all regularly being thrown into the air and colliding with each other on a frequent basis. Natsu was the only one who couldn't say anything as his motion sickness combined with the constant jumping in the air was making his face turn green and nearly managed to fall down on the floor once or twice.

"Keep him up Lucy! I don't wanna have to deal with flame brain barfing over the floor!" Gray protested once they managed to settle down for a precious few seconds.

"Why do I have to be the one to keep him upright?" Lucy protested. They passed over another bump in the road and Natsu was thrown into her.

* * *

 **Kunugi Station**

When the train Kageyama was on arrived at the station, Eisenwald made their move and beard down upon the train. The one station employee who tried to stop ended up getting a taste of Erigor's scythe, much to the horror of the crowd. "This train belongs to the Eisenwald guild now!" Erigor declared. No one even bothered to resist him as the whole guild began getting rid of everything - passengers, luggage and crew alike.

"Make sure everything is off of this train!" Erigor ordered as he watched the chaos unfold and then spotted a badly damaged carriage with Kageyama coming out of the wrecked. "Kageyama, care to explain what this is all about?" Erigor asked.

"Come on, don't you wanna see this?" Kageyama changed the topic and he pulled out the Lullaby flute.

"Is that Lullaby?" Byard asked.

"It's gotta be, there is only one flute with a three eyed skull on one end." Rayule replied with the other members of the Eisenwald guild cheering in triumph.

Erigor took the flute and held it out in his hand. "Yes. This used to be a simple flute for casting curses, until the great Black Wizard Zeref took it and made it into a more powerful tool. Anyone who hears this song will die." He declared and then boarded the train, ordering a couple of members to operate the train.

Once they were moving swiftly Erigor demanded that Kageyama tell him about what had happened and then slashed at the seats, narrowly missing the black haired male with a look of displeasure on his face. "Let me get this straight. You let a Fairy Tail fly see the Lullaby flute and then let him get away?" He demanded.

"B-b-but it's not like he knows of our plans Erigor and besides it was a brief look at Lullaby. It's not like he could stop us even if they tried." Kageyama pointed out, hoping that Erigor wouldn't attack him because of a minor slip up.

There was a moment of silence before the Reaper chose to respond. "Be grateful that I had a strategy in place. Even though a fly did see the Lullaby, we still have _that_ up our sleeves." He noted with a smile and the other members of Eisenwald in the same carriage smiled in agreement.

* * *

 **Clover Town**

The building where the Guild Masters were meeting it was located just outside of Clover Town and was one of the large buildings there. Inside were many different Guild Masters including Makarov who was sitting down on one of the tables and having a conversation with another Master and a old friend of his.

"Oh Macky, I'm so jealous of your wizards! They are full of life and look so adorable! " Bob stated. He is a bald elderly man with a stubble and was wearing an outfit that looked like it would be more fitting of a female and was also the Master of Blue Pegasus. "I heard that a new female member gave some big shot a spanking!"

"Oh you must be talking about Lucy. *hic*" Makarov replied, slightly drunk. "She's our newest recruit and she's got a body that won't give up." Bob shied away from him in adoration.

There was a growl from another member of a Guild who was also present. "They maybe hot and spirited but you gotta admit that they go overboard from time to time." The voice came from Goldmine, the master of Quattro Cerberus. He was a thin man with a black hat that had a red stripe around the bottom with spikes coming out of it and wore a pair of dark glasses, and he wore a black shirt. "The members of the Magic Council are worried that Fairy Tail are going to do something really bad one day."

"Ah let those blowhards on the Council worry. They are just jealous that my wizards are hotter." Makarov fired back, boldened by the alcohol. Bob shied away, but Goldmine still looked nervous.

"Master Makarov! Master Makarov!" The tinny voice came from a small blue bird wearing an even smaller pointed hat and was carrying a letter. "I have a letter from Miss Mirajane!" It announced.

Makarov caught the letter in one hand. "Oh? Thank you." He replied and then made a circle motion with his finger and a small seal appeared to create an image of Mirajane in the air. "Take a look everyone! This is our poster girl Mirajane!" He called out and a small crowd gathered around the table Makarov was sitting on.

" _Hello Master! Something incredible just happened and it was too good for me to wait!_ " Mirajane began saying and Makarov looked at her in curiosity. " _Natsu, Erza and Gray have all formed a team, isn't it fantastic? Rex and Lucy are also on the team which is also great!_ " This wasn't actually good news for Makarov whose mouth was open wide with shock.

"Well I guess the Magic Council now has a reason to be afraid." Goldmine observed with a small smile on his face at Makarov's reaction.

 _No, this can't be happening! It has to be some sort of nightmare I'm experiencing! The Conference ends today so I have enough time to make it back to the guild before they cause an incident or destroy an entire town!_ Makarov though as images of the worst possible scenario began flashing through his mind and fell down backwards.

* * *

 **Kunugi Station**

Back with the others they slowed down and arrived at a place that was overlooking Kunugi Station. From there they could see that knights belonging to the Fiore Army had surrounded the station and were doing their best to make sure that nobody panicked and they were just able to hear what was being said by them.

"I heard that a group of thugs hijacked a train, it was probably those creeps from the nearby Dark Guild." One of them stated, ignoring the official statements made by the leader of the group of knights.

"Why would they take a train? They don't have the freedom to go anywhere it wants to." Lucy pointed out once she had managed to recover from the dizziness of the ride.

"Yeah, it does seem a bit weird." Happy admitted with a nod.

"Maybe but a train is a good way to get to your destination as they are fast. Even more so if you minimize the weight of the train." Erza pointed out.

Rex took off the SE Plug and handed it back to Erza before he made his way onto the rooftop and spread his body apart. "I think it would be better if you supplied the magic, it doesn't seem to agree with me." He declared.

Erza nodded and thought for a moment about why the vehicle reacted the way it did. Was it because of his Magic or is there some other reason? She pushed the thought out of her mind and focused on the mission at hand. The Magic Mobile then revved like normal and they set off again with Rex clinging on the roof even harder, feeling every little bump on the road.

Their next stop was at Oshibana Town and Erza narrowly missed a few people as she took a hard right and Rex fell down the side of the Magic Mobile. He scrambled to get up and regain his balance. "Slow down Erza!" Gray called out from the side.

"I can't! Not when lives are at stake!" Erza replied as she continued to drive through the town at a high speed. Lucy and Gray were trying to stop Natsu from falling out of the motion vehicle.

Happy was deep in thought and frowning. "I have this strange feeling that I was supposed to remember something but I don't know what it was. I know that it was something to do with you Lucy but I can't remember it yet. Let's see… Lucy, weird, sick, strange…" He began to say random words out loud and Lucy scowled at him.

"Weird, Lucy, fish… I like fish." Happy remarked, still closing his eyes in concentration.

Managing to look up he could see a column of smoke coming from a building in the station. "Over there!" He pointed to Erza who then took a left and then rocked the Magic Mobile from the force. The amount of energy she was putting into the SE Plug was starting to take it's toll on her, though the ride was almost over and they only took ten minutes to get near the station.

Rex made the brilliant decision of letting go of the roof right before Erza screeched to a halt and his face met the ground and the wall at the same time. "Owwww…" He whined as he got up and then acted as if nothing had happened.

Once they were out of the Magic Mobile the group headed towards the entrance to Oshibana Station where there was a large crowd gathered outside and a few station employees guarding the entrance. One of them had a megaphone and was speaking through it. "We apologise for this delay but there has been a train derailment that will be dealt with very soon." The person announced.

"A derailment? I heard that a group of thugs took control of one of the trains!" Somebody shouted.

Erza put a firm hand on the shoulder of one of the employees. "Excuse me, what's going on here?" She asked.

"Why the heck would I tell you?" He replied and was headbutted unconscious by Erza in response.

"What's going on?" Erza demanded of the next employee who jumped in fright and was also knocked out by her. She then went through the employees one by one and continued to headbutt them when they wouldn't give a satisfactory answer.

Lucy and the others (aside from a motion sick Natsu) just stared at her in amazement. "It seems that Erza's methods of questioning are a little counterproductive."

"No kidding." Gray added, staring at Erza as well.

"That's Erza for ya!" Happy chimed.

It took them a couple of minutes before they actually got wind of what happened thanks to Rex intercepting Erza then asking one of the guards nicely and explaining that they were here to stop a Dark Guild and they needed to enter the station to stop them. They were reluctantly let in by the guards and when they entered the first thing that they came across was the bodies of multiple guards who tried to stop Eisenwald, scattered across the floor.

There were a few pools of blood from some of the injuries sustained by the guards and the group stopped to look at a few of the injured. "Eisenwald definitely came this way. The members of the Royal Army didn't stand a chance." Erza observed.

Lucy shuddered at one of the wounded who had slash marks across the body. "They're really scary now!" She shuddered.

"Nevermind that, we need to go inside." Rex stated.

The other wizards nodded and they continued on through the station until they got to the platform were they all stopped to see that a large group of people, at least one hundred, probably even two hundred, of them were present alongside the four wizards that Erza had seen in the bar and standing on the train carriage was a grey haired man with tattoos over his body, wearing a hakama and carrying a deadly looking scythe.

"Welcome Fairy Tail flies, step into our parlour." Erigor grinned as he turned to face them. This was perfect, the wizards had fallen right into his trap and everything was proceeding according to plan. By the time they realised what his real target was it would too late for them to do anything about it.

"You must be Erigor then, what do you plan on doing?" Erza demanded.

Erigor gave a cold laughter and then used his magic to fly into the air. "Tell me something, what do all train stations have?" He asked as he flew upwards then across.

"How is he doing that?" A scared Lucy asked.

"With Wind Magic!" Happy replied.

Something spoke up and answered that question. "Trains?" Rex asked, with everyone just staring at him like he was an idiot. Even Erigor was surprised at this answer, he wasn't expecting such an obvious yet stupid response to his question. "Why is everyone looking at me like that? It was a question! Okay then, conductors? Offices?" He continued guessing.

This line of question was starting to annoy Erigor who then flew onto one of the speaker system and tapped it with a knuckle. "A speaker system you idiot!" He barked.

"You're going to use that to broadcast the Lullaby?" Erza guessed.

Erigor gave a chuckle. "With the broadcasting system I can let the crowd outside hear the song of the Lullaby, if I turned up the volume enough I could even let the whole town hear it's soothing melody. The people take their rights for granted and are ignorants of the rights of other who have been denied by the fools at the council." He declared, throwing his arms wide open.

"But killing all these people won't change that, it's the reason that you were declared a Dark Guild in the first place!" Lucy protested.

"It's gone beyond that point now. We don't care about our rights anymore, instead we seek power as those with power are allowed to rewrite history as they see fit." Erigor stated and jumped into the air.

Lucy put Natsu down and began shaking him in an attempt to wake him up. "Come on Natsu you gotta recover from your motion sickness!"

Happy was standing by her side. "Good luck! He went from a train to the Magic Mobile to Lucy! It's a motion sickness triple whammy!"

"I'm not a vehicle you stupid cat!" The blonde wizard retaliated.

Kageyama grinned as he placed a hand on the floor and a purple seal appeared on the ground around him. "We're going to roll in a new era of darkness! Of course by the time it starts you won't be around to see it!" He stated and then shadows began moving towards Lucy at a fast speed, but unfortunately for him Natsu had recovered in time.

A burning fist broke through all of the shadows which broke apart into many pieces to reveal a perfectly normal Natsu. "Eisenwald dude… now I remember your face." the pink haired wizard grinned, holding up his fist.

"You… your little stunt got me in trouble with Erigor." Kageyama growled.

"Finally, you've recovered." Rex observed with a snarky tone.

"It looks like we've got a party here." Natsu grinned.

"Natsu… those are our enemies." Lucy argued.

This didn't deter him any further. "Like I said it's a party."

Seeing as how things were going smoothly, Erigor jumped off of the speaker he was standing. "I leave these pesky flies to you." He stated towards the other members of Eisenwald before seemingly vanishing with his Magic, making Lucy and Happy jump in fright.

Various members were grinning and chuckling, as if they were expecting to have it easy. Some of them were cracking their knuckle and others had drawn their weapons, most of which were basic looking swords and a couple of other weapons.

Not looking away from the other members of Eisenwald, Erza spoke up. "Natsu, Gray. I need you to team up. If the two of you join forces not even Erigor can stop you." She stated. They glared at each other before she gave them a fierce look. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Aye!" They declared and ran off towards the corridor that lead to other parts of the station.

"Someone find those flies and stop them from getting to Erigor!" One of them called out.

The man with the pyramid head hat then fired some black rolls of tape towards the upper floor and then pulled himself so that he was standing above the other wizards present. "Don't worry, I got this. I, the great Rayule, will stop those flies." Rayule declared.

"I'm coming too, I've got a score to settle with a pink haired punk." Kageyama declared and then sunk into a shadow before the shadow disappeared and began racing across the floor.

After the two of the members of the Eisenwald guild left there were still many for Rex, Lucy and Erza to defeat and most of them were grinning lewdly at the pair of girls. "Mother always taught me about how I shouldn't hit girls but I think I can make an exception for you two. Once were done with you, you won't be looking so great." One of them stated.

Rex was pissed off at this. " **Multitype: Fist Plate!** " Rex stated and was encased in a golden light. Rex now had black hair that spiked backwards and thin black eyebrows. He wore a sleeveless dark red shirt that falls down to his knees and looks torn and also featured two thin white lines ran down his chest. Alongside the jacket was a pair of black knee length shorts and leather sandals with straps around the ankle and the lower legs.

Erza likewise didn't appear fazed by their sheer number. "Your words don't intimidate me. If you insult the Fairy Tail guild again then I promise that you won't leave unscathed." At this a red seal appeared and then she summoned a sword in her hand with a feather like hilt.

"She summoned a Magic sword out of nowhere!" Lucy observed.

"Nice pointing out the obvious." Happy replied sarcastically.

"It doesn't matter, we have plenty of magic sword users in Eisenwald!" One of the members declared.

A small group of members with swords tried to attack Erza who didn't move for several seconds before disarming and breaking their weapons with a few short, precise strokes. The force of the blade was also enough to defeat them instantly and more people came at her, forcing her to move and avoid other weapons. Erza continued to defeat them until several members attempted to fire some sort of bright coloured magic and the sword glowed brightly as it changed into a spear and she swung it around her in an arc, repelling the blasts of magic back at her.

As other Eisenwald members went to attack her she then changed her weapon again into two shorter swords and continued to defeat dark wizards. "First a sword, then a spear and now two short swords? I've never seen someone Requip so fast!" The fat member of Eisenwald observed.

"Requip? I've heard of that before but…" Lucy trailed off, looking towards Happy.

"Magical weapons are much like your Celestial Spirits. They are stored in a separate dimension and are called out and swapped with other weapons, and this is called Requipping." Happy explained with a wide smile on his face.

"That's amazing." Lucy whispered in awe.

There was a dark smile on Happy's face. "Oh you ain't seen nothing yet, Erza can do much better." He grinned.

"Erza?" Karacka whispered, recognising the name now.

After watching her at work Rex then started his own battle with the members of Eisenwald and started the attack with a Mach Punch, hitting one of them before they could make a move and then parried a weapon before blasting him away with a glowing palm and he went bowling into several other members. Sensing danger Rex grabbed and intercepted a spear like weapon before using his own strength to lift up the member and then slam him down onto the floor.

" **Aura Sphere!** " Rex cried out after he formed a blue sphere between his hands and then threw it to scatter several members before decided to go with a more ranged form and then switched to the Splash Plate. " **Water Pulse!** " Rex called out as an orb of water formed and the exploded on the floor, swamping more members of Eisenwald and leaving about half of the other members left for him to finish off.

Then he grabbed a scalchop that glowed blue and extended until it resembled a blade of water and then blocked an incoming swords and he began parrying it before knocking it away. Rex's mouth swelled up and then he unleashed a Scald that drenched a group of Eisenwald members in boiling hot water.

"It burns!" They complained in unison.

A member with glasses then fired a blast of red energy towards Rex who then jumped out of the way. " **Water Pledge!** " Rex cried out and then surrounded most of them with a large pillar of water and knocking them out. He did get blindsided by a few bursts of brightly coloured Magic that didn't seem to affect him too much and carried on attacking them all.

"What kind of Magic lets him do that?" Karacka asked, looking at Rex in surprise.

"There are still a fair few of them left. Have any ideas on how to take them out?" Rex asked Erza.

Now that Erza had a chance to see his Magic in action she was quite impressed by it and it reminded her a lot of her own Magic. There were obvious differences such as Rex being able to use more than sword like attacks and she wondered if these different forms also had other abilities. It wouldn't be surprising if she did. "I can take them out with one attack. **Requip!** " Erza stated.

Instead of her weapon simply changing her whole body was engulfed in a golden glow for several seconds and a large red seal appeared. "Erza can do more than just Requip her weapons, she can also change her armour as well. That's what makes her Magic special. It's a technique called The Knight!" Happy informed them.

Erza's next armour had a metallic feathery look to it with a headband that made her hair cover her own eyes and a feather cap and a metal breastplate with a red jewel in the center and armour that covered her sides. Erza was also wearing a metallic skirts with a dark grey upper part and metallic sharp armour on her legs. In her arms there was a single swords.

"That's her Heaven's Wheel Armour." Happy commented.

A ring of swords appeared in the air and the began spinning in a blue circle. "Dance my blades, **Circle Sword!** " She cast the spell and they began to spin faster and faster until they spread out in multiple directions and slammed into the remaining members of Eisenwald, taking everyone out except for two of the members that Erza had seen.

Byard wasn't intimidated though and then charged directly at Erza with two orbs of magic surrounding his fists. "Now you're dealing with me!" He shouted.

Karacka then recognized that name. "Wait Byard! Don't you realise who she is? She's the Queen of the Fairies, Titania Erza!"

His warning came too late for his fellow guild member as Erza defeated him a single blow, and then let the swords fall down by her sides as she Requipped back into her normal Heart Kreuz Armour and let out a breath that she was holding. The last remaining member of Eisenwald in the room just stared at her before fleeing through the wall.

"I need you to go after this last member Lucy." Erza requested.

"Uh… me?" Lucy asked, still slightly dazzled from the awesome display of Magic she had just seen.

"Just do it!" Erza ordered her with a glare.

"Yes ma'am whatever you say!" Lucy protested and then ran off down one of the corridors alongside Happy.

Once they had disappear Erza let out another sigh and then took this moment to relax and recover some of the Magic she used up. It could be a lot worse if it wasn't for Rex helping her with the Magic Mobile then she would likely be even more exhausted from using all of that Magic. "I must say I am very impressed with your Magic, I certainly wasn't expecting something like that." Erza complemented and then smacked Rex against her breast plate.

"Ow! Well thanks but your Magic is just as impressive, I can see why some of the members of Fairy Tail compared mine to yours." Rex returned the complemented as he rubbed the side of his head. "We should probably head outside to clear up the crowd now. We need to minimize any casualties." He decided and Erza nodded in response before they both ran back where they had come from with the intent of finding the station employees.

 **Next Time - Fairies in the Wind**

* * *

 **Okay, so as I was writing this chapter I quickly realised that I wouldn't be able to reveal the second pokémon on Rex's team in this arc, sorry about that. Instead I'll push it back two arcs because I know exactly which pokémon to reveal in the next arc thankfully.**


	4. Fairies In the Wind

**Recap:** After staying in Magnolia Town for a few days Rex has his first encounter with the strongest female wizard, Erza Scarlet. Contrary to almost all of the Guild members he wasn't intimidated by her and instead found her rather amusing and then she formed a team alongside Rex, Natsu, Gray and Lucy in order to stop Eisenwald using the Lullaby flute. Their team encountered the Eisenwald guild at Oshibana Station where they split up into three groups with Rex and Erza taking care of most of the members.

* * *

 **Chapter 4 - Fairies in the Wind**

Further inside the station Natsu and Gray were running through a corridor and butting heads all the same. There were angry looks on their faces. "Why the hell does Erza have to be so bossy?" Gray scowled at Natsu.

"If she wanted us to work together then she should have just asked us nicely instead of ordering us around!" Natsu shouted back.

They both then stopped and looked at each other. "I don't need to team up with you I can take on Erigor all by myself! Are you copying me?!" Both of them shouted in unison. Looking ahead they saw that the path split into two branches going into opposite directions.

"Looks like we have no choice but to split up and look for him." Gray noticed and then they both looked down a different corridor. He then turned back to Natsu. "If you run into that Erigor guy, don't hold back and beat the crap out of him."

Natsu grinned at this statement. "You don't have to tell me twice." He replied before they both realised that they were smiling at each other and turned away with a scowl, and Natsu thought they he heard Gray say something but couldn't make out what it was. "Did you say something?"

"No I didn't, later loser." Gray stated out loud and then began running in the down the corridor he had chosen, where he didn't see many doors and then came to another fork in the road and looked up at a sign that lead to several different areas within the station. If they were planning to use the Lullaby flute through the speakers then Erigor would need to use the broadcasting room. "So I guess that's where he plans to use the Lullaby flute then." Gray guessed.

Once he got there the kicked down the door and saw that the room was full of all sorts of equipment with a microphone that was hooked up with a Lacrima but most pressing was the fact that no one was in the room. "Why is the place empty? I would have thought that Erigor would be looking for this place if they were going to broadcast Lullaby." Gray thought out loud.

Sensing something coming from behind he dodged it to see that it was the guy with the strange pyramid hat and saw the grey tendrils supporting him as he dropped down. "That was a pretty good guess. But our plan isn't as obvious as you think, fly." Rayule stated with a grin and then his hands twitched as the grey pieces of tape moved around in the air.

"So why don't you tell me about your plan and you won't get hurt then." Gray declared with a grin.

"Anyone who gets in the way of Erigor needs to be killed, so have a taste of my **Urumi!** " Rayule shouted as h then threw his hands at the Fairy fly and several rolls of tape then fired towards Gray who jumped to the side and then backwards, avoiding all the tape. Rayule then moved his hands to the left and the tape followed the fly's movement.

Gray then got into a two handed stance and a light blue seal appeared on the floor. " **Ice Make: Shield!** " He chanted and then spread out his arms to the side and created a barrier that was made out of multiple sections.

The ice shield held up against the tape and deflected that attack. "This punk uses Ice Magic?" Rayule frowned as he moved backwards.

Looking backwards he saw that the equipment behind him was completely trashed. Gray realised that if the broadcasting equipment was destroyed then all the people outside of the station were not the intended target and then stood back up to face Rayule. "What is your real target here? If it was the station then you wouldn't be so hesitant to destroy the equipment." Gray demanded.

Back with Erza and Rex they made it outside to the entrance of the station where the employees and the crowd were still there and Erza then took the megaphone from the station attendant. "Hey, give that back!" The attendant asked, but was stopped with a hand from Rex.

"Listen up! The wizards in this station have a powerful magical tool that is used to kill many people! If you value your lives then you will leave immediately!" Erza shouted into the megaphone. There was a short period of silence as the crowd discussed what the red headed woman just said before they all panicked and began running away from Oshibana Station as quickly as possible.

"Hey, lady! Are you TRYING to cause a panic?" One of the attendants protested.

"I would rather that no one died so I decided to get them away from the station. You should go to." Erza advised, ignoring the comment just made. Seeing as arguing with her would be pointless the station attendants decided to take their leave as well and began running away as quickly as possible.

"So where the heck do you think that Erigor went off to?" Rex asked as they began to walk around outside of the station before coming back towards where they started. Something about it wasn't feeling right, if Erigor was going to use the speaker system then he should have used it by now. His line thought was interrupted by the sudden increase in wind which then began kicking up everything around it and sending debris from the nearby building.

"What is that?" Erza called out from behind him and they saw that a gigantic whirlwind had enveloped the station and was blowing outwards. The force of the wind was amazing and they were managing to stay upright. The debris of the area was repeatedly assaulting their bodies as small rocks and pieces of wood rode the winds and larger objects were knocked over before smacking into the building.

A laugh cut across the sound of the wind and they both turned to see that Erigor was floating in the air and looking at the two of them. "Well if isn't the Fairy Queen. I've always wanted to have a turn at fighting you but I don't have the time to right now." Erigor stated.

"Then I'll make time!" Rex shouted as he launched forwards with a Mach Punch only to be stopped in his tracks by Erigor who flicked a pair of fingers at him and a purple seal flashed briefly that blew Rex away back into the wall of wind and then firmly into the wall of Oshibana Station.

"Rex! What is this Erigor?" Erza demanded of the dark guild member.

Another laugh from the black clad man. "Just my Wind Wall. Once you're behind it you can't get out no matter how hard you try." Erigor replied before doing the same to Erza with the palm of his hands and she was thrown through the barrier, feeling the intense winds for a second.

"Damn you Erigor!" Erza shouted and then tried to break through the wind barrier with one of her arms but the ferocity of the winds began tearing apart at her left arm. She was forced back outwards and saw that her arm was cut up in multiple places and the piece of armour on the same side was visibly torn in several places.

Inside Oshibana Station in the broadcasting room Gray was holding Rayule up by the collar of his shirt and then placed him up against the wall. "I told you to talk! What are you really up to?!" The blue haired wizard demanded and smacked him into the wall.

Rayule let out a small chuckle of amusement. "Erigor sealing barrier should be complete by now." He declared, ignoring the demands of Gray.

"What do you mean by that?" Gray asked, reaching his limit with this guy.

"I'm talking about the Wind Wall that he set up while you were all in the Oshibana Station. One way in, no way out, it's the perfect way to trap a bunch of pathetic flies like you so Erigor can focus on his real target." Rayule explained with a grin on his face.

This member of Eisenwald was getting on his nerves and Gray then kicked him through the wall and Rayule fell down on the floor before picking him up again. "What is his real target then?" Gray demanded.

"Clover Town, that's where it's going down. Think about it for a moment, what does Clover Town have?" Rayule answered cryptically.

This didn't make sense to Gray at first and then he tried to think about it for a moment and this lapse in concentration allowed Rayule to shoot his black bands at him, making five cuts through Gray's white coat. It hit him then that Eisenwald's real target was the Guild Masters that were having their regularly scheduled meeting and then his eye began twitching.

"So you've finally realised it, huh?" Rayule grinned and then his Urumi shot forwards and then wrapped themselves around Gray's body, restricting all but his hands and feet. "It's the perfect plan. By the time you make it out of there, if you make it out of course it will be too late. Those old creeps will be too busy at the Conference!"

Waves of cold air then began surging through the ice towards Rayule who watched on as Gray slowly began to freeze all of the bands and the ice began creeping back up towards him. Once the ice was close towards Rayule it broke apart, completely destroying all of the bands that had been frozen and Gray began walking slowly towards Rayule. "You're pretty bold for a guild that wants to kill the old geezers, but they are the closest thing we have to parents! If you mess with them you mess with us!" Gray shouted.

Gray made a two handed stance and then smacked his palm in the face of a triumphant Rayule whose entire body began to freeze up until it was completely covered in ice. Once that was over Gray walked out of the room and then looked around. "I'll show you that Fairy Tail can be scarier than any of the Dark Guilds out there." He declared before setting off back to find Erza and the others.

Back in the main area where Erza and Rex had battled the other members of Eisenwald and they began interrogating the remaining members that were still conscious and she was holding up the tall wizard with whiskers on his face. "It's no use lady, you can't get through Erigor's barrier. Why don't you just give up?" Byard explained.

"Erza!" The voice belonged to Gray.

"I thought you and Natsu were together." Rex pointed out.

"We were but we decided to split up, that's not important now!" Gray dismissed, both of his hands were on the railing. "I've just found out that Eisenwald's real target is Clover Town. They intend to use the Lullaby flute on the Guild Masters at the conference."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Erza demanded, emanating a fierce pink aura that made Byard scream like a girl.

Despite that she didn't knock him unconscious and just stood up as Gray jumped down onto the same floor as the two of them. "We can't get out, Erigor set up a wind barrier. If we try to break through you will only hurt yourself." Erza sighed, clutching her left arm with her right.

"Yeah I noticed that. I couldn't use my Ice Magic on it either." Gray replied and then noticed her damaged arm.

Erza was silent for a moment before remembering something that they said about the one of the other members. "Wait, they mentioned another person by the name of Kage. He was the one who managed to get rid of the Seal on Lullaby so he can also get rid of the Magic Sealing Barrier." She informed both of them.

"So he's a dispeller?" Gray guessed.

There was a slight groan coming from Rex as he put a hand to his head. "I think he went after Natsu, so now we gotta stop him from knocking out this Kage person." He realised and they both looked at him surprise and they began heading off in the direction that Natsu and Gray had first gone.

Byard just looked up at the flies in annoyance. This was bad for them, if those flies found Kageyama then their plans would easily fall apart and then waited until they were out of hearing range before he spoke up. "Come on Karacka, are you just gonna stand there and do nothing?" Byard demanded, still too injured to move.

From the wall behind him a small yellow seal appeared and then the aforementioned man appeared and was a nervous wreck. "I'm sorry Byard it's just that you know I can't find well and…" Karacka rambled on through the wall.

Byard interrupted him. "Don't worry, this is a simple task, even for you. All you have to do is kill Kage." He explained and then handed Karacka a small knife who took it with a trembling hand.

Lucy was walking through the upper parts of Oshibana Station in pursuit of Karacka alongside Happy. So far their search for the green haired fat person was proving useless. "Oh, man I can't seem to find that fat person anywhere. Maybe we should go back to where Erza and Rex are." She suggested, but Happy jumped up and screamed in horror. "What's up with that crazy reaction?"

"Erza told you to go after the bad man so… so you have to do as she says! Disobeying an order from Erza is never a good idea! If you go back now she may have to punish you and it may scar me for life." Happy replied in a frightened tone, every inch of his body shaking from fear.

"What kind of punishment are we talking about?" Lucy replied, scared out of her wits mainly because of the fact that she hadn't received the punishment Happy was referring to and quickly did a 180 in her suggestion. "Hey I was just kidding!"

"The thought of an Erza smackdown put some sense into you?" Happy asked in reply.

"Shut up you stupid cat! Why are you even following me?" Lucy demanded.

* * *

 **With Natsu**

Instead of moving around quietly and trying to find places where Erigor _could_ be Natsu decided to destroy every wall in sight with his Magic. "ERIGORRRRR! Where are you?!" He shouted, kicking down the wall with a fiery foot revealing an empty room and then moved down to the next room and punched down the wall with a blazing fist, completely destroying it.

From behind him, Kageyama was sneaking up inside a shadow that was travelling across the floor but was just astounded at the level of stupidity displayed by this pink haired wizard. _Does this guy even know what a door is?_ Kageyama thought and slowly rose up through his shadow until half of his body was visible though Natsu was still running ahead and destroying everything in sight.

"I could just stay here and watch him act like an idiot, but where's the fun in the that?" Kageyama grinned and then attacked Natsu from behind with Shadow Knuckle, sending him crashing through a door and into a pile of crates.

After a few seconds Natsu got up and glared at Kageyama. "It's you again!" He growled, though they both realised that his face was stuck in a small board that was advertising for some sort of amusement park.

"You look pretty ridiculous with that on your head." Kageyama smirked at him.

"Shut up Doggy!" Natsu retaliated.

"It's Kage! The name is Kage!" Was the reply as an irritated Kageyama stamped the floor with a foot. "I think I understand you now. Your Magic lets you eat fire to increase your strength huh? Shouldn't be hard to stamp out."

Natsu was angered enough to set his head on fire and destroy the board. "Now I really wanna beat you up but I can't right now. Where's Erigor?" He demanded with an outstretched fist.

Kageyama smirked and got himself ready for the imminent battle. "Like I'd just tell you, but if you can defeat me then I'll tell you where Erigor is." He stated, knowing that even telling him was not going to change anything as the flies were still stuck inside the station. Then he attacked Natsu again with fists made out of shadow but only pushed him back to the wall.

"So I get to beat you up and find Erigor? That's killing two birds with one stone." Natsu grinned.

Kageyama tried attacking with more shadows but didn't land any hits this time. Seeing the opposite happen to when they were on the train was surprising him. _Alright you nimble fly, see if you can stand up to this._ He thought and then placed a hand on the floor. " **Shadow Orochi!** It's no use dodging it, fairy fly!" Kageyama declared as a purple seal appeared and eight snakes made out of shadows came forth and then began bearing down Natsu.

"Is that so?" Natsu grinned as he then began punching through the snakes one by one, completely tearing them apart.

Kageyama just stared at him in shock that someone had so easily managed to overpower his strongest Spell. "No, you're a monster!" He cried out.

Natsu then punched him into the air and placed his hand in front of his mouth. " **Fire Dragon's Roar!** " He chanted and then a stream of orange flames shot out towards Kageyama who was blasted up through several walls and then crashed into one of them along with a burnt trail. The force of the roar shook the whole station and everyone took note of it.

He ran up the steps to catch up with Kageyama and grinned. "Okay since I won tell me where Erigor is." Natsu demanded.

There was a short burst of laughter from the black haired wizard who looked up at him with a smirk on his face. "He's long gone you idiot. Even better is that you can't escape from the barrier that he set up." Kageyama replied with a laugh.

"Natsu!" Rex called out from below and he turned to look at them. "Don't attack him anymore! We need him to dispel Erigor's barrier!"

There was a moment of confusion from the wizard before Erza jumped up with a sword in her hands and he began panicking on the spot. "IdunnowhatIdidwrongbutI'msorry!" Natsu shouted desperately and let out a high pitched scream when Erza swung her sword.

Instead of hitting him she made a decent sized crack in the wall by Kageyama who sported a similar expression to Natsu and they both fell back down from fright. "You will Dispel the wind barrier and you will do so without hesitation, understand?" Erza demanded.

Kageyama was petrified from the fear for several seconds before composing himself. "Fine I'll do as you say-!" He was cut off when a light coloured Seal appeared and then a knife suddenly pierced him through the lower half of his body and was then pulled out. "Karacka… why?" He asked and slumped forwards to reveal the quivering frog faced member of Eisenwald.

"Kage!" Erza cried out and then moved him down onto the floor. "Come on Gray, help me with him! Don't die on us, we need you to Dispel the Wind Wall." She demanded and began smacking him into the floor.

"Don't do that, it'll make things worse. Let me help him but hold him down this might." Rex replied, moving Gray out of the way and then set his fist on fire. Gray and Erza each took an arm and then Rex applied the fiery fist to the open wound and Kageyama cried out in pain and then thrashed around. Natsu was staring at Karacka silently.

"What the hell are you doing?" Gray asked.

"Sealing the wound. Although it will stop the bleeding I can't say the same for any inside bleeding." Rex replied as he removed his hand to see that the wound was still there but it was no longer bleeding but was still much redder in comparison to the rest of his body and they quickly turned him onto his side. Rex repeated the same movement as before.

"I think we came here at the wrong time." Lucy noted.

"Aye…" Happy agreed and they just stayed at the back.

"How could you do that to one of your friends! He was your fellow guild member and trusted you! _Is this how you Dark Guild members treat each other?!_ " Natsu shouted as he attacked Karacka with a burning fist and knocked him out with a single hit, destroying the wall in the process.

Once the wounds inflicted by the knife had been sealed they then got out some bandages to help clean up the blood on Kageyama's body and ended up having to wrap the lower half of his body alongside his left side to completely cover up the wounds and Erza thanked Rex again by smacking him against her breast plate. After that they got outside and faced the wind wall, though Kageyama was still unconscious from the knife wound.

"What?!" Lucy cried out as Gray filled her in on what was going on. "They are planning to use the Lullaby flute on the Guild Masters?!"

Gray nodded and looked at the Wind Wall, where Natsu was staring it. "If you try to get past this barrier though you'll only be sent backwards." He added and they watched as Natsu let out a roar and then tried to break through the barrier and there were orange sparks from the wind repelling the fire and then Natsu was flung backwards on the floor. "See? Told ya." Gray scowled, Lucy freaked out at the prospect.

"Come on Kageyama, wake up please!" Erza demanded, pressing down gently on his body and was looking up at the wind barrier.

Once he stopped twitching Natsu got up again and his fists were surrounded by fire. "I gotta break through! We have to save Makarov!" He roared and then tried to break through again only to be blasted backwards. Despite that he continued to break through and then forced his head through despite the pain it was causing him.

"Cut it out you idiot!" Gray scowled at him.

Lucy grabbed onto his scarf and pulled him backwards, stopping himself from going in for a fourth time. "Will you stop trying to be the hero?" She demanded of him.

Natsu stopped and then looked at Lucy for a second before crying out in shock and turning back to face the blonde. "We could use your Celestial Spirits!" He stated and there was a look of confusion from her for a second. "Remember back at Duke Everlue's when I grabbed onto Virgo and then appeared when he summoned that spirit? If you summon one of your spirits we can make it to the other side!"

Lucy shook her head. "That's not going to work Natsu! Normal people wouldn't be able to survive in the Celestial Spirit World and besides we would need another Celestial Spirit wizard on the other side of the wind barrier to let us out." She explained.

Natsu just stared at her. "I'm not following you at all." He replied.

There was a sigh from the blonde wizard. "Okay let me try to put it simply, even if we could we wouldn't be able to and besides the very act of a human passing through the Celestial World is a serious breach of contract! I didn't mind when you did it back at Everlue's mansion because it was his key." Lucy pointed out.

The mention of Everlue sparked something in Happy. "Everlue's… key… AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed suddenly, making everyone around him jump into the air. "Lucy, I just remembered!" He called out.

"Remember what?"

"WHAT I WAS TRYING TO TELL YOU EARLIER!" Happy shouted back and Lucy thought back to when she was in the Magic Mobile with an annoyed look on her face. He then took something out of a bag, producing a small golden key with a heart shape at the end of it and a pink symbol on the other.

"How did you get your paws on that?!" Lucy demanded, pinching his mouth.

"Virgo gave me this key. When Everlue had been arrested her contract was broken and she asked me to gave this to you." Happy spat out through his mouth.

"Virgo? Ohhh you mean that big gorilla maiden!" Natsu remembered with a smile on his face.

Lucy was still focusing on Happy though was nice enough to let go of his mouth. "That's great and all Happy but we can't exactly do anything with this Zodiac key." She replied, having forgotten about her abilities. He started speaking again but Lucy grabbed his cheeks and stretched them apart. "Why can't you just meow and drink milk like normal cats?!" She demanded in a harsh tone.

Gray shuddered behind. "You know, she can be pretty scary too."

"Musta learn't it from Erza." Natsu agreed with a grin.

"But Virgo can dig holes so she can get us out of here." A despondent Happy replied.

There was a ripple of shock throughout the group as Natsu remembered what had happened at Everlue Mansion and the others of the groups were also realising what this meant. To be fair, Rex wasn't at the mansion and Natsu had forgotten about Virgo's ability. "Oh yeah, of course she can! Why didn't you say so in the first place?" Lucy asked.

" _Some_ body was pinching my lips." Happy replied with a dark look on his face.

Lucy began bowing on the floor. "I sincerely apologise for my actions."

"Bring me some fish and all is forgiven!" Happy replied.

After agreeing to it Lucy took the key and then stood out in front of the group with Erza nodding on, still holding the body of Kageyama carefully in her hands. She turned away from them and hold out the key in her hands before casting the spell. "I call upon thee in the world of the Celestial Spirits and now I beckon you to my side, pass through the gate! **Open, Gate of the Maiden - Virgo!** "

Contrary to what Natsu had said Virgo was actually looking like a normal maiden with pink hair and blue eyes though she was also wearing a pair of unjoined chains around her wrists. "You summoned me Mistress?" She asked.

"Who are you?" Lucy asked, blinking.

"Hey Burger, haven't seen you in a while. You've lost a lot of weight since last time." Natsu spoke up, looking at her new form.

"My name is Virgo, I apologise for my earlier actions." The spirit corrected him with a small smile on her face.

"She doesn't look different Natsu, she's a completely different person!" Lucy pointed out.

Virgo turned to face the wizard who had summoned her. "I am a very loyal spirit who takes on whatever appearance pleases her wizard the most." She explained.

"I dunno I kinda like that big gorilla appearance." Natsu grinned.

At this Virgo then changed into a large fat gorilla with two short pigtails and a bit of red lipstick. This sudden transformation startled Gray and Rex who jumped backwards and opened their mouths from fright. "No! I am your wizard and I prefer your other form!" Lucy protested and Virgo assumed her normal form. "Can we work out the details later?"

"Whatever you wish Mistress." Virgo complied.

"Can you not call me Mistress please?"

Virgo spied the whip on Lucy's waist. "Would you rather be called Dominatrix?"

" **No.** "

"Then how about Princess?" Virgo suggested.

Lucy grinned and held a hand to her face. "Oh yeah that sounds a lot better."

The three male team members just looked at her in mild annoyance. "Please get on with it." Gray requested.

"Of course." Virgo responded and her eyes glowed red and she then plunged into the ground and began drilling through it with her bare hands. Gray and Rex peered down the hole in amazement as Lucy was the next person to get smacked into Erza's breastplate.

Before they were about to leave Natsu picked up the injured Kageyama. "I know he's one of our enemy but I'd hate to leave him behind." He stated and Kageyama briefly opened his eyes to see that Erza was smiling gently at him.

Outside the Wind Wall stood four members of the group. Gray, Lucy and Erza were looking up at the barrier and Kageyama was lying down on the floor and almost all of them were looking upwards at the barrier with Lucy trying to hold her skirt down which was blowing up in the wind. "Let me help you Princess." The spirit requested, unaware that her skirt was also blowing up with Gray getting a full view of it.

"Oh wow." Gray muttered with his face completely red.

"Hey where did Rex go off to?" Lucy asked, looking around.

"Natsu and Happy are gone as well, they probably went off to fight Erigor." Erza guessed after looking around.

There was a small chuckle coming from Kageyama and they looked at him. "It's too late for you to do anything now. Erigor cannot be stopped." He said.

* * *

 **Clover Canyon**

The only way to get to Clover Town was on the train as Clover Canyon, which was a large canyon with the bottom going down so far it was practically impossible as a mist was obscuring the bottom. Standing on the train tracks was Erigor who was taking a break to keep recovering the energy spent putting up his Wind Wall. "You ignorant fools took away our rights, so now the Reaper draws nigh!" He declared before starting to fly again.

Something to his left sparkled in the distance and Erigor looked at this distraction and saw that a second small sparkle of life followed behind it. He stopped to look at it before realising that he was being followed and then got on the move again, but by that time it was too late as a loud voice made his presence known.

"You didn't know that cats could fly at **Max Speed,** could ya?!" Natsu shouted as Happy carried him and flew so fast he crashed headfirst into Erigor and then fell down on the tracks and rolled over.

"Natsu… I feel… exhausted…" Happy said slowly before falling unconscious and his wings disappeared.

Natsu caught him just before he landed on the ground. "I got ya, just take a break and let me handle it from here." He stated before turning back to Erigor.

The white haired man was stunned for several seconds. "I can't believe that a couple of you Fairy Tail flies managed to get past my wind barrier." Erigor noted out loud.

"Make that three!" Rex shouted as he caught up as well. Rex now had short brown hair that came down around his face and wore a pair of tinted goggles that covered his eyes. He was wearing a special flying suit that covered most of his body and was mostly light blue with dark sleeves and white gloves that fit neatly over the sleeves and a dark zip down the middle of the suit, as well as a dark stripe down both sides that lead to a thick band separating the body of the suit from the legs and feet which were also blue. Rex was also sporting a pair of wings.

Once he touched down Rex then reverted to his normal form, and Erigor was surprised to see that it was the same white haired wizard from the station. The way he changed like that reminded him of Titania and wondered if all of the flies from Fairy Tail were like this. "You're looking pretty cold up there. Why don't you warm up a little?" Natsu suggested then charged forwards with his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist.

Erigor swung his scythe out in a circle and he blocked the attack with a burst of wind blocked the attack and then spied Rex jumping up. He placed his hand in a triangle formation and three small orbs appeared in a triangle formation in front of Rex, one red, one blue and one yellow before the Tri Attack fired and three beams streaked towards Erigor who flew out of the way and then unleashed a wave of wind that blasted Rex and Natsu back with Rex nearly falling over the tracks but he grabbed the side and climbed over.

" **Multitype: Sky Plate!** " Rex called out and switched back to his Sky forme before his wings appeared and took off into the air and then dashed towards Erigor through the air surrounded with a white glowing aura. " **Aerial Ace!** " He called out and then attempted to land another hit but Erigor avoided it.

" **Fire Dragon's Roar!** " Natsu shouted and then a stream of fire was shot towards Erigor.

Moving himself into a better position Erigor moved his left hand in front of him and a Magic Seal appeared in the air. " **Storm Wall!** " Erigor shouted and a blast of wind blocked both of their attacks, with Rex having the unfortunate honour of running right into the wall and feeling the full force of it. If it weren't for the protective goggles around his eyes he could have been blinded.

The wings managed to save himself and Rex righted himself up by performing a barrell

"Get down here and fight me like a man!" Natsu demanded though Erigor seemed to ignore his demand. "Fine then, I'll come to you. **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** " He called out and jumped up in the air before throwing a punch at Erigo but met the blunt side of his scythe and moved backwards before his arms were covered in orange flames. " **Fire Dragon Wi-!** " He called out but was hurtled back by a sudden blast of wind from Erigor and he fell over the side of the track.

Happy had gained enough strength to witness what had just happened. "Natsu…!" He called out desperately and tried to summon his own wings but couldn't due to still feeling the exhaustion from the use of the Max Speed.

"Natsu!" Rex shouted and then dived over the tracks with every intention of catching Natsu and lifting him back up to the tracks.

After having recovered from the initial blast Natsu folded his arms as he fell down further and further through the fog, getting faster and faster until he began hitting the rocks below several times until he lost consciousness and held out a hand to where up was. _Gramps… Erza… I'm sorry._ Natsu then recalled something Macao had once said about using his fire to make it not burn and showing off Purple Flare to pick up a mug of beer and move it around the air. An audible roar then broke through the air and a pillar of fire shot up past Rex who dived to the side and then watched as Natsu rose up through the air.

"What the?" Erigor cried out as he saw a hand made out of fire holding onto the tracks and saw that Natsu had come back up and stood on the tracks looking at the fly in amazement. This wasn't an ordinary fire wizard that was for certain and Erigor had never heard of a Requip like that before either. "Interesting, it looks like I might actually have to get serious for a change." Erigor observed once Rex had come back upwards.

"You better get down here right now!" Natsu shouted, annoyed that he was the only one unable to fly.

"Why don't you make me fly?" Erigor smirked at him and then watched as Rex got up into the air again though this time he was taking a defensive position and unhooked his scythe. There was a brief stare down between the three of them before Erigor made a few hand gestures before pointing his index and middle finger at the two of them. " **Storm Bringer!** " He cast and a purple Seal appeared.

A violent wind whipped up and a tornado appeared in the air that sent them both spinning around and they smacked into each other several times. Despite his attempts to break free Rex was still spinning though recovered in time and just managed to catch Natsu in midair. "Hey are you okay?" Rex asked but was met with the sound of him groaning. "Come on Natsu, if you can take flying with Happy then you can be fine with me!" He protested before setting him down.

Despite this Natsu was still groaning from the motion sickness and taking his time to recover. "Dammit Natsu." Rex scowled in annoyance and flew up towards Erigor.

" **Flamethrower!** " Rex called out and then fired an orange stream that was deflected with his Wind Magic and then cloaked himself in flames and charged forwards to hit Erigor who then dodged it. Erigor then made the same hand movements from earlier but this time he was prepared for what was going to happen and gathered wind up towards his hands.

" **Hurricane!** " " **Storm Bringer!** " They both shouted as Erigor pointed at Rex who spun his hands around and two powerful tornadoes formed in the air with the resulting collision spreading out extremely strong winds in every direction, forcing the two of them to focus on each other and Natsu was thrown backwards into Happy.

Once they cancelled each other out and Rex took the initiative and used Extremespeed to tackle Erigor and then formed a mirror of water in the air and fired and large volume of water. The attack was diverted when Erigor slashed at the air with his scythe that was powered up with Wind Magic and it spread out into five different streams that hit the pillars of rock around them. " **Thunderbolt!** " Rex called out as his fired a blast of lightning at Erigor, hitting him. Pressing his advantage he then dashed forwards and grabbed onto Erigor before taking him high up in the air.

"Get off me!" Erigor demanded and spread his Wind Magic out in every direction.

Despite the intensity of the winds that were cutting at him in several places Rex stubbornly held onto him. "If you can hear me Natsu then get ready, I'm coming down!" Rex called out and then thrust himself down towards the ground and kept his firm grip on Erigor and then surrounded both of them with a red flame that turned a blue colour as they were closer to the ground and they both hit the ground with a loud crash that spread out a wave of fire.

Happy ducked down to avoid being burnt and then immediately heard the sound of Natsu eating fire whilst Rex got up and rubbed the back of his neck which hurt a lot from the impact. "Oh wow this fire tastes _amazing_! You gotta give me more of this stuff Rex!" Natsu grinned as a wave of orange energy surged through his body.

"You can eat fire?" Erigor's voice called out in surprise. Looking at Natsu he was beginning to understand more and more about his Magic and was wondering about how a simple minded fly like him learnt such a powerful Magic.

Natsu grinned and then saw red sparks flashing from Rex, making him shake. "What the heck was that?!"

"Crap, I forgot that Flare Blitz inflicts recoil damage. Because it is a powerful move a third of the damage done by me is inflicted on me. I must have done more damage than I thought." Rex winced as he continued to nurse his neck. Natsu eventually got it though.

"Enough of this cat and mouse game, it's time for me to end this! **Storm Mail!** " Erigor declared and then spun his scythe in a circle in front of himself. A spiral of wind burst out before before the winds all began blowing to him and then wrapped around him, the force of the winds was pushing everything outwards and they were slowly being pushed backwards. "Just try and break through these winds!" He dared.

The others were in the Magic Mobile with Erza powering the car again. They had just made it to Clover Canyon and were following the tracks. Inside sat Kageyama who was opposite Gray and Lucy and the Eisenwald member was looking at the two of them in confusion. "I don't get it, why are you helping me? I'm your enemy." He spoke up.

"It's because you're injured and Erza scared off all the doctors in Oshibana and the nearest town is Clover!" Lucy pointed out.

"Oh I get it now, you're going to take my hostage. Well you can forget it, Erigor doesn't care about any of us." Kageyama pointed out with a wry smile.

Gray was fed up with the way he was talking. "If you want to die then we can arrange that for you." He spoke up.

"Chill Gray!" A shocked Lucy called out.

"But you should try to look at the positives once in a while." He continued, ignoring what Lucy had just said. Those words appeared to mean something to Kageyama for a moment before he scoffed and sat back down in his seat. The Magic Mobile then jumped up in the air as Erza ran over a bump and they then landed down with an audible crash.

"Are you okay Erza?!" Gray shouted.

"Yes I'm fine, don't worry about me." Erza replied before setting off again and then felt her breathing becoming heavier. The use of all that Magic for the Magic Mobile and the Requips when she fought EIsenwald alongside Rex was beginning to take its toll on her and it most likely fell on the combination of him and Natsu to stop Erigor.

"Could your butt be any bigger?" Kageyama groaned, putting a hand to his injured face.

Lucy was outraged. "WHAT?! Gray kill him he said I had a big butt! That's sexual harassment…" She began and carried on yelling at him.

This annoyed Gray who looked away from her and pretended not to hear whatever Lucy was saying. "Geez, so much for a touching moment." He mumbled.

The strength of the winds coming from Erigor's Storm Mail was a sight to behold and complicating things even more was the fact that they appeared to be stronger whenever you got closer to them. "The winds of my Storm Mail blow outwards, you can try to get close to it but the winds will tear you apart!" He stated.

"You coward! You just had to wrap your body in wind." Natsu shouted in annoyance before charging forwards and using his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist to try and hit Erigor only to find that it was blocked by a hand and then pushed by hards by a blast of wind from Erigor.

"Try as you might you can't break through! Fire will never defeat wind!" Erigor declared.

Rex was looking at Erigor and trying to figure out a way to break through the Storm Mail and then spread out his wings and nearly found himself flung into the air and quickly drew them together to avoid being blown away. Standing up straight required effort to keep himself steady, it felt likehaving the move Hurricane non stop around him. "Fire might not be able to hurt you but lightning can. **Shock Wave!** " Rex called out and let a small blue bolt of electricity that struggled for a couple of seconds before breaking through and zapping Erigor.

"What?" Erigor flinched and looked down at Rex in surprise.

There was a shout of frustration from the pink haired wizard who then jumped up and boosted himself with his fire and tried to get close to Erigor but seemed to stop when he got a foot close to him and was blasted back again into Rex who caught him. "Don't try to get near him Natsu! We gotta used ranged attacks if want to hit Erigor."

Natsu stared at him for a moment. "But how come you managed to hit him?" He asked.

"Shock Wave is a m- spell that doesn't miss. It's not as powerful but it does a good job." Rex explained to a slightly confused Natsu. "Besides I have an idea that might work."

"I won't let you do that. **Storm Shred!** " Erigor chanted as he put a hand in front of himself and then multiple blade projectiles then shot forwards from the seal and spread out over the area. They both moved around trying to dodge it whilst Rex flew in the air in an arc whilst they rained down from above, getting hit a couple of times and several tear marks appearing in his suit in those places at well. Rex then turned around and fired a web of electricity that blocked the remaining blades of air coming down to him.

"Listen when I use it again on Erigor you have to use you Roar on the Shock Wave attack, got it?" Rex asked, hardening his tone slightly in a similar fashion to when Erza did so. He figured it would be best to adopt that tone to make sure that the pink haired wizard was going to cooperate.

"Y-yes sir!" Natsu replied in a high pitched voice like Happy.

"Good, **Shock Wave!** " Rex called out and another blue bolt of electricity went arcing straight towards Erigor who then tried to dodge it and found that was following him.

" **Fire Dragon's Roar!** " Natsu shouted and then let out a powerful stream of orange flames.

The orange flames followed the path of the electricity for a few seconds before latching onto it and racing down at a faster pace to catch up. Erigor nearly lost it and wasn't focusing on the two people who were still in the fight and then heard Natsu from below and he stopped. A few moments later his Storm Mail had been broken through for the second time and was blasted with a weakened fire and lightning combination. "Don't you Fairy Tail flies know when to quit?" Erigor growled in annoyance.

"Sorry to disappoint you but you need to do better than that." Rex replied with a smirk on his face though still kept his wings together and ready to fly. His next plan would be to use a combination move to really upset Erigor though from the way he flew back down to on the train tracks it couldn't be any good.

"Then try to survive Wind magic that cuts up everything in it's path. **Emera Baram!** " Erigor shouted and crossed his fingers into a X shape and began whipping up the wind around him. An array of Magic seals appeared and began moving around the air in a circle before forming the same shape as Erigor's index and middle fingers.

Happy looked up at them both, having enough power to look up and move slowly. " _Emera Baram?!_ Be careful you two that's a dangerous spell that could kill you!" He shouted.

There was a shout from Erigor who casted the spell and a concentrated blast of wind blades roared right into both of them and they were sent spinning backwards and came to a rest a few feet away from Happy. There were a lot of a scratches and wounds on both of them though Rex was faring better than Natsu. His goggles had a large crack across one of the eyes and minor scratches on the other with the body taking the most damage from the attack. _Shit, I can't believe how strong that Spell was!_ Rex thought though he could barely get up.

"You're still here? Never mind, once the Lullaby flute has played it's song there is no hope for the Guild Masters." Erigor stated.

Natsu managed to get himself up though and took of his torn and bloodied coat. "All you talk about it that stupid flute, I'm getting sick of you hearing about it!" He shouted and emitting more heat then usual. Rex managed to take off his goggles and turned to look at him. Ignoring his fellow guild member he then took hold of the rail tracks and then a pillar of flames erupted around him. "Why can't we get a decent hit on this guy?!" Natsu shouted and the flame then got larger.

Erigor was staring at this kid in confusion. _The angrier he gets the bigger his flames become… but that's an ancient Magic. Where did this kid learn such a powerful Magic? The flames of emotion…_ Erigor began thinking to himself.

Everyone was ignoring the fact that the wind appeared to be changing direction and heading towards Natsu, which was also making the Storm Mail weaker and it was getting easier to see Erigor. Happy was the first one to see what was going on though. "Natsu!" He called out and got the attention of the literally burning up wizard. "You stink. Give up since you're never going to win and let Gray handle this."

This single statement made Natsu pause for a moment and several tick marks appeared on his forehead and a large pillar of fire erupted around him. Happy's comment made him angrier than before. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Natsu roared.

The sudden change in his demeanour startled Erigor who began looking around and realising that his Storm Mail was getting weaker. "No! My Storm Mail!"

"Now I get it. Natsu's flames are heating the area around him are creating an updraft which also creates a low pressure area. Wind will always flow from a high pressure area to a low pressure area." Happy noted.

Seeing that Erigor's Storm Mail had gone completely Rex stood up and changed into the Splash Plate and then formed a mirror of water. " **Hydro Pump!** " He shouted and began pelting Erigor with a powerful blast of water that pushed him backwards and he carried on with his offensive and then fired a Thunderbolt at him, inflicting even more damage on Erigor as he was already soaking wet.

"I won't let a pesky fly defeat me! **Storm Shred!** " Erigor shouted and then fired a barrage of wind blades that were all concentrated on Rex. They all met a green shield though and dissipated harmlessly.

"I'm gonna bring you down!" Natsu roared and then charged forwards as he was completely surrounded by fire that concentrated into a spear like weapon. " **Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!** " Natsu chanted and tackled Erigor before soaring into the air and crashing down onto the ground and leaving Erigor in a small pile of rubble. Lullaby flute was scattered from him and the three eyes glowed for a moment.

The two other members of Fairy Tail grinned before coming over to face. "Did you like that guys?"

"Aye! You showed him that if you mess with the Salamander you're gonna get burned!" Happy nodded.

Natsu didn't look impressed at that turned back to face Happy. "Didn't you say something about not being able to defeat Erigor?" He asked.

"Cats have a very short term memory you know." Happy replied and Rex wasn't sure if he was faking it or not but decided to let it slide.

"You told me to leave it to Erza or something." Natsu added.

"Wow it's even worse than I thought." Happy and Rex stated at the same time before the cat continued talking. "Anyway it doesn't matter now because you defeated him right?" He asked and the two humans nodded in return.

A few moments later the Magic Mobile could be heard and Erza came down from the driver's seat alongside the other wizards. As Kageyama got out of the vehicle he looked at Erigor in complete shock at the fact that the de facto leader of Eisenwald had lost and then took a note of the fact that Lullaby was just lying down there on the floor.

"Hey guys, look at what we just did." Rex grinned as he came over to the other members.

"I'm proud of the both of you for defeating Erigor." Erza grinned.

"I can't believe you two had such a hard time with this guy." Gray scowled, looking at the half naked Natsu with dislike.

"We didn't have a hard time with him, Erigor was just a little tricky that's all." Natsu stated and glared back at him.

"I was worried for a moment there." Happy admitted.

The two of them moved a step closer to at each other and were giving off a fiery aura. "Oh yeah, then why the hell are you half naked like that?" Gray challenged and folded his arms.

"Unlike you yah icy freak I have a reason for that, give me your clothes Lucy." Natsu shot back at Gray before turning to face her.

Lucy scowled at him. "In your dreams!" She shouted right back at him.

Erza simply chuckled at that, though didn't make any sort of attempt to quell their argument and then adjusted her position so that she was standing more upright as opposed to using Lucy for support. "Well it's good to see you anyway. As we're so close to Clover it would be a good idea for us to get to the Guild Masters and report on what happened." She suggested.

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

The sound of something revving up made them look over to the Magic Mobile before they scattered as a shadow appeared over them to reveal that Kageyama was driving it and one of the shadowy hands had picked up the Lullaby flute and was passing it to him. "You pathetic flies shouldn't have let your guard down! The Lullaby is mine now!" Kageyama grinned as he sped off and left them in the dust.

They were silent for a moment before Natsu began shouting. "That jerk! We save his life and this is how he repays us?!" He shouted in disbelief.

"Nevermind that we need to go after him!" Erza replied and they began running frantically to catch up with them.

* * *

 **Clover Town**

By the time Kageyama arrived to the forest overlooking the Conference it was dark and also quiet, perfect conditions for playing the Lullaby flute and he felt a dull pain coming from the stab wound and winced. He vaguely remembered hearing something about the inside of the wound but not much else and ignored it as he continued to stare down at the hall in front of him. "This should be the perfect place for everyone to hear the Lullaby." Kageyama whispered to himself.

The Lullaby flute went close his lips before the sound of someone else making kissing noises made him yelp and turn around to see that Makarov was sitting on top of a small rock and was reading an issue of Sorcerer Weekly. _It's the Master of the Fairy Tail guild. Why do I keep running into those flies?_ Kageyama thought.

"Oh wow, this week's edition of Sorcerer Weekly has some hot wizards! This generation's female wizards are much stronger than when I was young and sexier too!" Makarov said out loud with a perverted grin on his face. Then he growled and jumped down onto the floor and shook his head, becoming more annoyed by the moment. "What am I doing? I need to get back to the Guild before the others cause a major incident."

Makarov took a step before sensing the presence of the younger wizard and turning round in horror, clutching his issue tightly against his chest and his jaw dropped. "Ahhh! This isn't what it looks like, I swear! I was just doing some research on female wizards and it was completely innocent!" He began to spout out rapidly.

"I don't care." Kageyama replied bluntly.

The white haired wizard stopped and noticed the bandages, burns and some of the dried up blood on his body. "You look like you've been injured pretty badly my boy. You should be in a hospital." He noted.

"Of course, sorry." Kageyama replied politely before looking down at the flute for a second and back up before pulling it up and got ready to play it.

Makarov noticed the flute and then looked at it. "That's a creepy looking flute you got there." He observed.

Kageyama nodded and didn't see that he was sweating slightly in apprehension. "The folks at the hospital wouldn't let me play it, would you like to hear me play a song?" He asked nicely but was gloating on the inside about how Eisenwald had won.

"Hmm… I suppose it wouldn't hurt to listen to it but just one song, I'm in a hurry." Makarov replied firmly, turning so that he was fully facing the young man.

"Alright, but listen carefully." Kageyama replied and then his grin widened at the thought of victory. He pulled the flute closer to his mouth and something made him pause. Kageyama then opened his eyes and found out that he was beginning to sweat at the thought of why he was holding back, not certain of his nervousness. Several thoughts began to form in his mind, including hearing Byard mocking the normal guilds, Erigor triumphantly declaring his revenge on those with rights and finally the words of Natsu that were directed towards Karacka.

From higher up the group of wizards had arrived and was watching the scene unfold before their eyes and began to run towards him. It was at that moment that Bob came into the picture along with several other Guild Masters and he immediately began talking to Natsu and Gray. "Well hello there, it's been a while since I've seen you two handsome boys!" He greeted them and they both looked creeped out by him.

Lucy was hiding behind Erza and looked just as creeped out as the boys. "Who the heck is that guy?" She asked as he seemed to tap dance over to Natsu and Gray.

"That is Master Bob of Blue Pegasus, a rather eccentric person." Erza stated, keeping her ground.

Bob then turned to see an unfamiliar face and then walked right up to the man and gazed adoringly at him. "And just who might you be? A new face of the Guild?" Bob asked Rex, disregarding any sense of personal space.

Seeing Bob suddenly go up to him in that way creeped him out and he moved backwards a few feet. "Uh… Rex Vermend. Pleasure to meet you." Came the awkward reply from one of the newest members of Fairy Tail.

"Would you keep it quiet? We're just getting to the good part." Goldmine stated, watching the conversation between the two wizards down there.

"He's with Quatro Cerberus!" Lucy recognised.

The three boys eventually made their way to the front of the pack and the group of Fairy Tail wizards all turned their attention towards Makarov and Kageyama, though they were keeping their distance from the strange Guild Master of Blue Pegasus. _I don't understand! All I have to do is play this flute and then everything is going to change right?_ Kageyama thought and grasped the flute even tighter, trying to find the strength to play it.

Makarov let out a sigh before turning away. "Nothing is going to change." He began saying and Kageyama looked down at him in surprise. "You cannot change the fact that those who are weak will remain weak. Now it may just be me but I don't think that's a bad thing because we humans are naturally weak so we band together to form guilds and make friends with each other. Don't let that silly little flute govern your life." He spoke up, still unaware of the fact that he was being watched by the others.

There was a moment where Kageyama opened his eyes in surprise and his hands dropped to his sides. He could feel a strange kind of warmth coming from those words, the likes of which he had never felt at all during his time with Eisenwald and he fell down to his, relinquishing his grip on the Lullaby flute that fell down on the floor. "I surrender."

The others were just as shocked and moved by the speech the Master made before they all rushed out of the bushes much to their Masters surprise and Kageyama's open shock. Erza then picked him up and smacked him against her breast plate. "That was such a moving speech it almost had me in tears!" She admitted.

"W-what are you kids doing here?" Makarov asked once he recovered from the stinging. The others were gathered around him and celebrating him being able to defeat Kageyama without having to fight, Natsu and Gray were both complimenting him with Erza and Rex going over to take a look at the injured dark wizard. Several of the others Masters had also walked up to them.

"What just happened?" One of them asked.

"I don't know but it looks like we owe the Fairy Tail one." Goldmine surmised with a grin.

While they were all discussing what was going to happen next the Lullaby flute clattered slightly before smoke began leaking from it and opened it's mouth. A loud deep laugh made everyone stop and turn to face the object. " **I grow tired of wizards being indecisive!** " Lullaby roared as a large Magic seal appeared in the air and lightning sparked across the whole area.

"What the hell is going on?" Rex asked as they watched the flute grow in size. He had seen a lot of large pokémon back home but this was larger than almost everyone he had seen.

Lullaby was now a gigantic monster that had to be at least 10 metres tall with three eyes, two arms and legs and one face. There was a large round hole in the body and other holes and cut out segments everywhere else too, and the air was filled with a strange quality that made it look distorted. " **So many delectable souls, which one should I eat first?** " Lullaby roared.

"I… I was never told about any of this!" Kageyama replied with his eyes wide in shock.

"This is Lullaby's true form, a type of Magic known as Living Magic that was used by Zeref a long time ago." Goldmine explained, looking calmly at the abomination in front of them.

"Who's Zeref?" Gray asked.

"He was the most evil wizard known to have walked through Earth Land 400 years ago and was known as Black Wizard Zeref. It's amazing that one of his creations is still around today." Bob added.

"Do you think that souls taste good?" Natsu asked with a grin.

"How am I supposed to know?" Gray retorted though he was keeping his eyes on Lullaby.

To the left of Lullaby a large army that was made of several thousands of soldiers that were all approaching the monster after receiving intelligence that the Eisenwald guild were planning to attack the Guild Masters at Clover Town and had just made it and could see the hulking form of Lullaby. "Alright men, let's show that demon the might of the Fiore army!" The leader declared and sounded the charge.

" **You doubt my power?** " Lullaby growled before emitting an orange beam that hit the mountains behind them and ended up destroying one of them completely. The army looked at this display of power before retreating. " **I prefered the souls of a wizard anyway.** " Lullaby brushed them off and turned back to face the bunch of wizards.

"Someone stop that thing!" One of the other masters demanded.

"I can't I have a bad back!" Another added and they cowered backwards aside from Makarov who simply looked on with confidence in his kids.

"We need to take this thing down, ready?" Rex asked with a grin as he stood alongside Erza and then shifted into the Flame Plate to the amazement of the others. Erza had requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armour and had a sword in each of her hands. Natsu and Gray looked at each other for a moment before they each received a look from the two of them.

"I don't think I've ever seen a type of Requip like that." Goldmine noted, looking at Rex with curiosity.

"Rex calls it a combination of Requip and Take Over, calling it Multitype." Makarov explained, not looking away from the group and grinned confidently.

Happy looked up at Lucy. "Aren't you going to help them?" He asked.

Lucy nervously took a few steps backwards and began averting her eyes. "Well I could, buuut I think that they pretty much have it covered." She pointed out.

"Oh so you're making excuses now?" Happy asked darkly.

There was a red glow coming from Rex's arms and they were heating up. " **Heat Wave!** " He called out and then sent a hot wind towards the gigantic Lullaby and began burning at every area of the gigantic demon. Several of the tops of the trees were also set on fire accidentally and were burning away, though this was a comparatively uninteresting sight compared to a ten metre tall demon. Using this Natsu ran forwards behind the wave of heat and then jumped up on one of its arms before attacking with Fire Dragon's Iron Fist.

Erza took this time to dashed forwards and attack one of the legs with both of her swords, and Lullaby moved his foot upwards before slamming down on the ground hard and sending out a small shockwave across the ground. It didn't count on the Heaven's Wheel Armour allowing Erza to fly over short distances though and she jumped up and slashed the side of her face.

Lullaby let out a roar of annoyance and then threw a punch at Gray who rolled to the side and he got into a two handed stance. " **Ice-Make: Lance!** " He called out and a blue Seal appeared before multiple blue lances fired out and all curved towards Lullaby and piercing it in multiple places.

" **How dare you!** " Lullaby roared before aiming in Gray's direction and charging up an orange beam in its mouth and then fired it.

Gray spread out his legs and then cast another Spell. " **Ice-Make: Shield!** " He chanted and then a shield with spikes on the ends appeared from the ground and managed to hold up against the beam without breaking. A good thing too as had the shield fallen then Gray and the Guild Masters would have been badly hurt.

"That boy's Maker Magic is impressive!" Another master with a thin white beard noted.

"Maker Magic?" Lucy asked.

"Aye, it's a type of Magic that allows the user to give form to their Magic as opposed to most Magic users that simply use it to cast Spells." Happy explained with a dark look on his face.

"Don't forget about us!" Rex called out as his hands became red claws and dug right into the other arm with Crush Claw. Lullaby turned to face him and then roared right in his face, Rex flinching from the sound of the roar and then jumped up and switched to the Sky Plate to fly around the sky and his wings began glowing a white colour before firing several blades of air at Lullaby.

Erza had managed to distract it long enough for Lullaby to ignore the Air Slash that made a few holes in its body and threw a punch only to get the pointy end of one of her swords and it roared in pain. The second punch blindsided Erza who fell to the ground and got right up again.

 _It's amazing to see how in sync they are when the three of them aren't bickering with each other._ Lucy thought, amazed by the four of them.

" **Requip!** " Erza shouted and he body shone brightly for several seconds before it faded away to reveal a mostly black armour with silver trimmings, and the most distinct features being a pair of wings that reminded Rex of the wings of a Charizard or maybe a Golbat, it was kind of hard to tell. There were also several silver crosses on several of the plates of the armour. It was accompanied by a purple and silver sword with a black hilt, a golden hand guard and two small red diamonds just above.

"That's her Black Wing Armour! With it her strength is increased!" Happy explained.

Letting out a battle cry Erza charged forwards and swung a mighty blow that sent the Lullaby demon crashing down. " **Enough! I've decided that I'm going to eat all of your souls at once!** " Lullaby declared before letting out a roar and the air seemed to flow towards it with the parts of the trees and the surrounding area was actually dying out with the trees, bushes and the grass turning brown before disappearing completely.

"Now what's going on?" Rex asked, clasping his hands over his ears.

"It's preparing to unleash it's Magic on us." Goldmine stated.

"Shouldn't we be concerned about it if it's trying to kill us with it's Magic?" Lucy pointed out. Happy had taken the initiative and put earplugs on.

Once it was done sucking in the air Lullaby paused for a moment and then let out a roar and then began to play something that wasn't like what it was supposed to do it. Instead what came out was a pitiful whine that eventually faded away and Lullaby was standing there, dumbstruck at what had happened.

"Well that was anticlimactic." Lucy commented and Happy nodded.

" **Why did I not kill anyone?** " Lullaby demanded.

"It must have been because of the numerous holes created in it's body, altering the sound made." Kageyama guessed and Lullaby looked down at it's body and saw that there were a number of different shaped holes that weren't originally part of its body and then turned back to face the wizards.

"I got an idea. I need you to stop him from moving Gray and for you to distract him Erza. Once that happens get away because I'm going to unleash a really powerful attack." Rex explained.

Natsu realised that he had been left out. "What about me?!" He protested.

"Defend the Guild Masters." Rex replied.

Natsu's protests were drowned out by the three of them getting to work as Rex switched to the Flame Plate and then fired a Flamethrower at Lullaby's body whilst Erza swung the sword she was currently wielding and attacked the side of Lullaby's face and it roared and tried to hit her again but she blocked it with her sword and barrel rolled in the air to avoid the force of the blow. " **Moon Flash!** " Erza chanted as she rushed past Lullaby, attacking the body in a cross formation.

Gray was running underneath and stopped once he got close to Lullaby, and then began aiming for the feet as he used his Magic. " **Ice-Make: Grappling Hook!** " A pair of hooks then shot into the feet and then buried itself into the ground and making Lullaby roar out in pain. Now that it was in place and unable to move out of fear of even more damage he could freeze the feet completely. " **Ice-Make: Fishnet!** " This time a wave of cold energy swept over the feet before being encased in ice.

Lullaby noticed his lack of movement and then looked down at the blue haired wizard and charged up an attack but was interrupted by Erza who slashed at his body from behind with enough force to make him stop. "You have your opening Rex now hit it!" She ordered as she went back to the Guild Masters along with Gray.

Rex nodded and got close to Lullaby who turned to face him and they all saw that his body was completely cloaked in an orange and red fire that was emitting a lot of power. Everyone could feel it and were amazed, aside from Natsu who was practically drooling at thought of eating the fire, though Erza was frowning slightly.

Lullaby had also noticed the power that the strange wizard had been emitting and was looking down at him. " **That sort of power… you're not human!** " It called out.

There was an amused smile coming from Rex as he gathered the fire in his fists. "You're one to talk. **Blast Burn!** " He roared and slammed his fists into the ground, seconds later multiple cracks of red light appeared around Lullaby and converged on its position before a massive explosion rocked the place and completely engulfing it in fire for a minute before it dissipated and left the Lullaby standing there motionless before it fell backwards and then slowly fell apart.

Cracks began appearing all over the Lullaby before it reverted to the flute and the air and sky suddenly returned to normal with the Lullaby flute falling down on the ground in front of them. There was a moment of complete silence as everyone just staring ahead, not sure what to make of this for several seconds, though Makarov was extremely impressed at what had just happened before they began cheering and applauding the Fairy Tail group for what had happened.

"Well what do you think? Now that you've seen what a regular Guild can do it's pretty great isn't it?" Goldmine asked of Kageyama.

The Eisenwald wizard had his eyes open at the sight and there was a genuine smile on his face. "Yeah."

Bob came up to him and made the injured man jump in shock. "You know when I was your age I looked a lot like you." He noted and showed him a picture of a group of people and then pointed to a tall thin man with black hair and a strange aubergine suit and blue. "See this handsome young man? That's me."

"You mean I'm gonna be fat and bald when I grow older?" Kageyama cried out and then fainted on the spot, a small white ghost of him appearing in the air to the amusement of Bob and Goldmine.

"Our guild is pretty awesome, isn't it?" Makarov cheered as he jumped around in the air.

Several of the other Guild Masters were also praising Fairy Tail and the rest of the members present had gathered around Rex to congratulate him, namely Erza who smacked the side of his head into her breast plate for the second time that day and it felt worse than the first. The fatigue of having to do so much fighting was starting to set in for him and he sat down to recover.

"That was incredible!" Lucy blurted out, shaking.

"Aye!" Happy agreed, hovering in the air.

"Aw man! Why couldn't you have let me take that thing on?!" Natsu complained.

One by one the Guild Masters had turned back to look at the Conference Hall and each of them were displaying a look of shock and one of them tapped Makarov on the shoulder. The small man looked in confusion then went white from the sight in front of him, and the other members of the team looked at what everyone was staring at and Natsu was the only one who was impressed. "He went overboard!" All of them except a few stated and all of their eyes were on Rex. The Conference Hall had been mostly destroyed thanks to the Lullaby being defeated by the Blast Burn attack and there was a sizeable hole in the ground.

"Oops." Rex replied with an embarrassed grin.

The shouts of confusion and shock became shouts of anger and the members of Fairy Tail began to quickly make their way out of here. Makarov was leading them with Rex quickly following just behind and the Guild master of Fairy Tail was crying his eyes out over the fact that the Magic Council would surely get involved on this and the others were falling right behind with Natsu grinning like a maniac.

 **Next Time - Natsu vs Rex**

* * *

 **This took longer than expected, I am really sorry for that. The next chapter will be the final one in the Lullaby arc though most of the focus will be on the title.**


	5. Natsu vs Rex

**Recap:** After splitting up, Erza and Rex had gone to catch up with Erigor but were trapped inside Oshibana Station alongside the other members of the team where they discovered that their real target was Clover Town where the Guild Masters Conference was being held at. With the help of VirgoVirgo, they got through the Wind Wall and Rex and Natsu caught up with Erigor and defeated him, but Kageyama escaped with the Lullaby flute which turned out to be a demon which was then defeated with the combined efforts of Erza, Natsu, Gray and Rex but destroyed the Conference Hall in the process.

* * *

 **Chapter 5 - Natsu vs Rex**

Following the destruction of the Conference Hall a meeting was held by the Magic Council at Era and they sat down at the table with the current head holding the cracked Lullaby in flute form that was sealed inside a container. "Although we managed to arrest most of the members of Eisenwald, aside from Erigor, what concerns me the most is how a magical artifact that was enchanted by Zeref fell into the hands of a small time Dark Guild." Their leader commented.

"Indeed, and they're not the only Dark Guild who have been finding supposedly lost artifacts from the books of Zeref." One of the female members added with a frown, the older of the two females present on the Council.

"With regards to Eisenwald and Lullaby, it seems that we owe the Fairy Tail Guild a lot." The young male stated, turning his attention to an image that was projected in the air that displayed the fight between the group of Fairy Tail members and they paid a lot of attention to one of the members who had defeated the Lullaby.

"They took down an entire Dark Guild with only five wizards, an impressive feat for any Guild." The younger female wizard added, raising a sleeve to her mouth.

Their leader, Org, stroked his long silver beard and growled audibly to the other members sitting down here. "Indeed, but they cause too much damage in the process. This wizard in particular uses a Magic that we have absolutely no knowledge of and yet it is strong enough to defeat the Lullaby with that much power." He stated and then they all saw the part when this unnamed wizard unleashed fire from beneath the ground and see it completely surrounding the Lullaby demon.

A moment of silence run through the air for a moment as most of them were looking at the display in a mixture of apprehension and fear. If this sort of power was all it took to defeat such a lethal demon, then the thought of an unknown wizard like him going at full power was not for the faint hearted. "Given this man's incredible talent we should thank him for his services." The young male suggested.

"Siegrain!" Several shocked voices rang out and they all turned to face him.

"Think about it for a moment, if anything happened to the Guild Masters were Fairy Tail not to intervene then they would put the blame on us." Siegrain explained with a smirk on his face and his arms folded.

"That's preposterous! We could not simply thank them for it, we have to punish those who break the rules!" Org replied, raising his voice to drown out the arguments of the other people.

Siegrain nodded, secretly glad that the leader of the Council had objected to his suggestion and then propped up in his seat so that he was sitting up straight. "Then I propose we set an example of him and Titania." He declared with a wide smile on his face. Siegrain was also curious about this unknown wizard and wanted to meet him in person.

* * *

 **Magnolia Town**

Due to the fight on the Clover railway and Erigor using his Emera Baram there were going to be no trains available for up to a week whilst the employees got back to Oshibana and repaired it. As a result, they had to walk back all the way to the Guild Hall and through the Clover Canyon, though they encountered a small problem after about a week in the sense that they had run out of food and as a result were going hungry, and that was after they rationed their food properly. Not helping matters was that the sky had few clouds and the sun was beating down on all of them.

It had taken them almost a week for them to get back to Magnolia Town with their journey having a slight interruption. Said interruption involved a group of bizarre looking monsters that was originally a village home to a dark guild who had brought the destruction upon themselves and luckily for everyone Master Makarov had managed to not only get rid of the monsters but also return them back to life somehow. Despite both Erza's and Rex's persistent questioning Makarov remained cryptic about it and decided to drop it.

When they finally arrived in Magnolia Town their spirits were lifted and they quickened their pace towards the Guild Hall aside from Lucy who broke off to go to her apartment. This confused Happy and Natsu. "Shouldn't she go back to the Guild Hall with us?" Natsu asked.

"Well we were away for a week so she probably wants to freshen up, I certainly would." Gray noted.

"Anyway what's important is getting back to the Guild Hall. There will likely be a message from the Magic Council because of the incident in Clover Town." Erza added and she avoided looking at Rex who had his head looking right at the ground, wanting to forget the whole accidentally destroying the Conference Hall.

Once they arrived the first thing Rex did was to run straight to the bar and took a seat with Mirajane being nearby and having noticed them entering the Guild Hall. "Welcome back everyone." She greeted and took out a few sheets of paper and handed them to Makarov. "These came a few days ago from the Council." She presented to him.

There was a groan from the old Guild Master who took the sheets of paper and began to look through it, muttering to himself. Rex was laying down on the bar and dozing off to catch up on some of the sleep he had lost from the journey through Clover Canyon and partly to recuperate from the usage of such a powerful move, this feeling must have been what the starters feel like.

Mirajane had finished dishing out the beers that other members had ordered before returning to the bar and looking down at the resting form of the white-haired wizard as Erza sat down next to him and did not pay any sort of attention to him. "So I've got the latest paper about what happened in Clover Town. Is what happened really all of his fault?" She asked innocently.

"Please don't remind me." Rex whimpered, waking up suddenly. Despite wanted to be annoyed at her for bringing it up he looked at her smile and found that he couldn't so he settled for incoherent grumbling. Sceptile was out of her Poké Ball and sitting down next to him with an amused look on her face at the childish.

There was a small cough from Erza and he fell silent. "Unfortunately yes, Rex came up with a plan to defeat Lullaby but the result was that it fell back onto the Conference Hall. The spell you used… Blast Burn I believe, I could tell that it was a very powerful attack just by looking at it." Despite this acknowledgement of strength Erza knew that something was up with Rex and although she didn't know it fully yet it wasn't related to Magic. At least none that she knew of.

"Yeah…," There was a pause as a Rex yawned. "But the drawback is that I have to take a break after using it to recharge so I have to be careful when I use it." He noted and then moved his shoulders around to help relax his muscles and make him more relaxed and stretched out his arms.

Someone was making no attempt to be sneaky and Natsu launched himself from behind towards Rex with a fist on fire. Rex simply ducked and Natsu crashed into the bottles and furniture behind him with several of the bottles falling down on top of him and dousing him in some form of alcoholic liquid. "Aww come on!" Natsu whined as the scent of the mixed liquids reaching his nose and it didn't smell good.

"Well if you go and recklessly attack him like that don't be surprised if something like that happens." Erza pointed out with a sigh.

"But I wanted to get his attention, it's time for our fight anyway!" Natsu declared loudly, getting back up moments later. At his words the Guild suddenly went quiet and looked at the scene that was unfolding at the bar with curiosity with some of the members started gathering around.

There was a pause as Rex thought for a moment about it and then nodded. "You're right, I do owe you a fight as I promised at the train station. But let's take this outside and wait for-" Rex began but was cut off.

A hand thrust itself in between the two of them and it belonged to Erza. "Wait a moment Natsu." She said and wordlessly cut off his protest. "There is something that I want to know about you though Rex, where do you come from?"

This question made Rex a little nervous and decided to keep his cool about this with his answer. "Well I come from the north of Minstrel which is about a couple of months away from Fiore. The journey here was not an easy one-" He began explaining.

A sword appeared in the air and Erza thrust it down into the ground beneath his feet making him, Natsu and Sceptile jump into the air along with everyone else. At this time, Lucy and Gray was also present, with the latter having brought the Celestial Spirit wizard from her apartment not too long ago and had been some of the first to gather around Natsu. "That is not what I am referring to. During our little mission to stop Eisenwald, I picked up several different hints that what you call magic might be something else. The first one was during the trip in the Magic Mobile when it went faster than it should normally do even when being cautious with the speed and the second was when you unleashed your attack on the Lullaby. Whilst it was a powerful one I concentrated on the source of the power and was shocked that it didn't feel like magic power at all, so answer truthfully." Erza explained calmly before picking up the sword and pointing it towards Rex.

There was silence as they processed that and then began looking at Rex one by one, though Natsu was the only one who didn't seem to catch on. Makarov was observing the events keenly and stood up on top of the bar with a simple look on his face, deciding to wait patiently for the answer. Rex and Sceptile felt themselves sweating and they took a step backwards and began conferring to themselves about what to do. "Now what? Do we tell them?" Rex whispered.

"Well since Erza will keep attacking us if we keep trying to hide it from the truth, Sceptile reckons that neither of us really have a chance." Sceptile pointed out, whispering under her breath.

Both of them turned backwards and kept the short distance between them and the Fairy Tail wizards. Rex took a deep breath before answering the question, "Alright you got me I don't come from Minstrel, I come from much further away. I come from the Hoenn region."

"Hoenn? That doesn't sound like any place in Earthland." Gray frowned.

"That's because Hoenn isn't in Earthland at all, I was sent here from another world." Rex revealed after taking another deep breath.

A moment of silence followed before there was a collective "WHAT?!" from the others. Natsu then laughed. "Okay that was funny." He grinned.

"I wasn't joking." Rex replied with a frown.

That was an indicator of his seriousness and several guild members exchanged confused looks at each other, not quite understanding it yet. "Hold on… you're serious?" Jet asked in confusing, eyes widening in surprise.

This confused Natsu and then Rex began explaining more about himself as best as he could and started by explaining that he had come from a different world and why he had come to Fiore. The news that he had come from the pokémon world made them surprised and very sceptical of that claim at first but they let him carried on talking until he had finished.

Makarov was the first to ask a question. "So this creator… is one of those Pokémon as well?" He asked.

"Yes, the very first one. His name is Arceus and he created everything. He's a god" Rex replied, nodding in confirmation. This garnered shocked looks from the rest of the guild and a slight chuckle from him and then began explaining about the concepts of pokémon and types as well as evolution and had been talking for what felt like a very long time. Once he had finished he sat down on the chair and relaxed as they continued to take it in.

Lucy was the first one to recover this time and asked a question. "Umm… do you happen to have a map of this world where you say you come from?"

"Of course!" Rex replied and set the bag down on the floor and took out a sheet of paper and spread it out over a table so that they could see all the different regions. "This one here is where I come from, Hoenn." He pointed out to one of the large regions on his left towards the edge of the map and some of the other funny looking places on the map and were trying to make sense of the foreign sounding names and places.

"This region is called Fiore but it looks nothing like this country." Erza noted and looked at a part of the map that featured a region near to two regions that are connected to each other. "But that's impossible…"

Each of them looked up at him as they began to realise what Rex was talking about was true more questions about him and Rex held up his hands to silence them. The first question then came from Levy. "What exactly do you do back at your home?"

"I am what's called a trainer. I capture and befriend pokémon and then train them to help me in a battle and Sceptile here is a starter pokémon but she was given to me as a Treecko instead. All people who battle with pokémon can hold a maximum of 6 and any more has to be stored somewhere else."

"So does that make her your first pokémon then?" Gray asked.

"Well… yes and no." Rex smiled and took out a red and white ball with a black stripe around the middle with a button. "Due to the danger some of them pose an age limit is put in place for people to become trainers, until then ownership is assigned to a parent or guardian. Whilst Sceptile is officially the first pokémon owned by me he isn't my true first pokémon." This confused a few of the members at first and they spread out to give him some space before releasing the pokémon within the Poké Ball.

A white light appeared to form a large red pokémon who was smaller than Rex with a red and yellow fiery body on the front with two strange looking yellow arms that resembled cannons that was connected to red shoulder with fire flicker atop them and the head as well as the tail. On the back were four pink spike. His legs were black and pink with red feet and two spikes on each foot. His hands also had three spikes coming out of them.

"Is that thing made of fire?" Lucy cried out as she and Happy jumped.

"This is Magmortar, my true first pokémon." Rex introduced as he looked around.

Magmortar looked around at the guild members in confusion before looking at Rex. "So why am I out here? Is there something you can't defeat on your own?" He asked and everyone watched in fascination as his hands for lack of a better words disappeared and the yellow cannon expanded slightly.

"Wait Magmortar they are our allies!" Rex pointed out.

"Oh? We're in the Fairy Tail guild then?" He replied, relaxing.

There was an annoyed look on his face. "Hang on a moment, how do you know about the Guild?" Rex asked.

Magmortar would have replied but saw the look on Natsu's a face and took a step backwards. "Well whilst you were talking to Arceus he addressed us in our Pokeballs. But more importantly though, what is up with him?" He asked and didn't like the thought of where it was going.

"Can I taste your fire as well?" A drooling Natsu asked eagerly.

"Absolutely not! ...Wait." Magmortar frowned and opened one of his cannons to attack Natsu.

Happy had seen the belt that he was wearing and spied two other kinds of Poké Balls, one that was blue and had two red stripes and one that was black with a single yellow stripe in the shape of a U. "Why are they different?" he asked.

"The blue ones are Great Balls and the black one is an Ultra Ball. These have an improved catch rate. Others with improved catch rates exist though they have special conditions set in place." Despite this he quickly moved the blue cats hand away from the Ultra Ball and tightened the belt slightly.

"I'm getting bored of all of this talking, let's fight now!" Natsu whined with both his fists set alight.

Magmortar looked at Rex questioningly and he explained it as they began filling outside the Guild Hall and he let out an amused chuckle. "Seeing you having to fight for a change is going to be interesting, hopefully you've learned something from your journey." He teased.

Rex looked up at him with a scowl on his face. "If I didn't learn anything on my journey then I would have gotten to where I was today." He replied at first in a grumpy tone though the scowl faded and became a neutral face as an unspoken comment passdd between them.

"Can Sceptile borrow some money?" The green starter interrupted them.

"Why?" Rex asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Cana is taking bets and this could be a good time to make some more money."

Rex didn't waste any time on handing over a portion of the money he still had on him. "Make sure that you bet it on me to win." He stated and watched as Sceptile jumped outside the Guild. There wasn't any doubt on his mind about his victory but how he was going to win against Natsu wasn't going to be easy, persistent would be an understatement to him.

Outside the Guild Hall a large circle of people formed what would be the battlefield and it was very loud outside with people cheering for both fighters as the crowd parted for Rex to get through to face Natsu who was itching to get started already. There was still a little bit of space for Magmortar though as the heat he was giving off made it difficult for people to stand too close to him. Away from the crowd was Cana who was taking bets from people and Happy was currently thinking about who to bet on. One of the more interest bets had been placed by Jet and Droy, with the former saying that Rex would only have to change twice and the latter stating that Natsu would defeat Rex in 7 spells or less.

"I'll place 10,000 Jewel on Rex to win!" He decided and Cana wrote down the bet and put a mark on the scoreboard which was surprisingly even, though the scale was slightly in favour of Rex.

"You're betting against Natsu?!" Lucy cried out in shock.

"A 10,000 Jewel wager on Rex to win." Sceptile added with the stack of money she had borrowed.

"Not you too!" Lucy groaned and made her way back into the ground, standing next to Gray with an apprehensive look on her face.

Gray then turned to face Lucy. "Did you want to make a bet with Cana as well?" He asked.

"I don't want to bet money on something that could tear the strongest team apart." She protested.

This confused the blue haired wizard. "What do you mean by tearing the team apart? Natsu's not going to be enemies with Rex, he'll just challenge him to more fights, and what idiot came up with this nonsense about us being the strongest team?" He chuckled wryly.

Unfortunately for him Mirajane was in earshot and smiling for a second before crying and burying her face in her hands. "I'm sorry… I just thought that…" She sobbed.

This was an awkward moment for Gray as he tried to comfort her, earning him a scornful look from Elfman and Rex. Most of the noise died down when Makarov stepped in the middle of the two fights, having made a bet on Rex. There was a feeling within him that knew who the winner would most likely be but his body language gave nothing away as he waited for the two of them to get ready for the upcoming fight. "Let the battle begin!" Makarov declared and scurried away.

As soon as he went back into the crowd Natsu did not hesitate to charge forwards and attack with his fists alone and they saw Rex dodging them one at a time before jumping up and then kicking out with a Stomp attack to block the last attack. The force was enough to evenly match the attack before Rex was surrounded with a white outline and dashed forwards with Quick Attack to land several light blows on Natsu.

" **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** " Natsu shouted as an orange seal appeared and he jumped forwards with a burning fist.

Rex moved into a defensive position. " **Protect!** " He called out and a green shield formed around him, completely blocking the blow and letting it bounce off harmlessly. There wasn't a scratch on the shield at all as it faded and everyone had seen that he was unscratched.

"What happened?" Gray asked.

"From the looks of things I'd say that was a shield to protect Rex from any attacks." Erza noted, having taken the time to observe the fight rather than cheer them on.

"Correct, though consecutive usage decrease success rate. There are other moves with similar effects." Sceptile nodded in confirmation before looking back at the fight.

This lack of damage done didn't deter Natsu who then continued up with his assault, and kept throwing his punches in hopes of getting a hit in. " **Crush Claw!** " Rex called as his hands were surrounded by a red aura and he blocked them but felt himself slowly being pushed backwards due to the sheer force of the attack and then broke away and got some distance between him and Natsu.

Still having his fists on fire Natsu dashed forwards again only for Rex to dodge it by jumping over him and then moving backwards. "Don't just stand there, come on and fight me!" Natsu declared and then another orange seal appeared. " **Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!** " His arms were on fire and then he swung them in a circular motion.

" **Tri-Attack!** " Rex responded and then fired the triangle shaped beam to intercept the two waves of fire and an explosion formed. He wasted no time going on the offense and then charged forwards with another attack. " **Take Down!** " This time there was a thin yellow outline as he tackled into Natsu with a lot of force and Natsu nearly crashed into the crowd.

"Watch where you're going you idiot!" Gray scowled as he had to move backwards to avoid being hit by the wizard.

"Shut up!" Natsu retorted.

After the attack Rex rolled backwards and they noticed red sparks flashing around Rex who merely grunted and shook it off. "What was that?" Erza asked with a frown.

"It's recoil damage. Whilst most moves just do damage some of those deal recoil damage based on how much damage the user deals, usually a third but in a few cases, it's a quarter and one case has half the damage taken as recoil. Take Down deals a quarter recoil damage." Magmortar noted.

Despite the exchange in blows the sounds of cheers could still be heard. Natsu got back up again before dashing forwards eagerly with his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist again and Rex looked on in mild surprise at how easily he had gotten back up from the attack and was barely able to intercept the blow by catching the outstretched fist with his right hand. " **Dizzy Punch.** " At the same time, he drew his left hand into a fist before smacking Natsu up with a golden punch, though the confusion effect didn't work.

In the air Natsu was spinning slightly as he came down with both his feet on fire and kicked Rex from above, sending out a wave of fire around him when he tried to block it. " **Fire Dragon's Claw!** " He called out as an orange Seal appeared in the air and the ground visibly cracked around Rex by the force, forming a small crater.

 _Okay, this was not what I had expected from attacking head on. I think I'm going to need to take a different approach._ Rex thought to himself and dashed away from the crater with Quick Attack and quickly turned to face Natsu. This didn't deter the dragon slayer and he came charging forwards again in preparation for another Spell. " **Smokescreen!** " Rex inhaled and then blew out black smoke from his mouth and moments later no one could see Natsu.

"Where did you go?" Natsu demanded from within the cloud and looked around. It was too thick for him to see.

"I doubt that Rex is gonna just let him find out." Gray groaned, covering half of his face with one hand.

There was a small smile from Erza who was aware of what Rex was going to do. _That smoke is merely a cover for where he'll attack from. Since Natsu can't see him at the moment Rex has the advantage for now._ She thought before speaking. "It's looks like this is going to be an interesting fight." Erza muttered quietly to herself.

Rex tensed up his muscles as a red aura surrounded him and then used Strength from above to smash Natsu in the ground. He got right back up and then jumped upwards shouting, " **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** " He shouted but the smoke above him cleared to reveal that nobody was there and then looked downwards.

There were suddenly multiple copies of Rex still in his base form on their battlefield in several different poses and some of them were aiming at him. Natsu growled at he couldn't tell which one was the real one so went for option b, destroying all of them and sucked in his breath. " **Fire Dragon's… ROAR!** " He declared and sent wave of fire that swamped most of the battlefield and destroyed every copy.

Some of the fire had spread out a little bit too wide though and several members were singed by the flames. "Watch where you're aiming that spell!" One of them complained.

"So where is the real one?" Lucy asked.

"Most likely above him." Erza guessed and they all looked at her.

"What?" Some of them asked, dumbfounded.

"It was a trap. Rex baited Natsu by attacking from above and moved quickly enough to avoid being attacked from above." Erza explained, keeping an eye on the fight in front of them and had a smile on her face. It was a very clever move from Rex and wondered for a moment how well he would fare in a battle against her.

That guess was correct as a golden flash of light and Natsu turned around to see that Rex had activated the Sky Plate and used Air Slash to fire several light blue blades to strike Natsu before dashing towards him with a white outline around his whole body. " **Aerial Ace!** " He called out and charged down into his lower body.

At first Natsu struggled to draw his fist but eventually managed to. " **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** " He managed to call out and then struck one of Rex's wings hards and separated him, only for both to freefall and crash into the ground.

Unfortunately for Rex he landed on the injured wing and felt pain shoot through his whole body, wincing as he did so and slowly got up again. "I guess this calls for a different forme. **Multitype: Zap Plate!** " He called out and his whole flashed for several seconds. Rex's short hair had become blonde and brushed backwards along with several spiky strands, along with a few atop his forehead. Around his head was a pair of yellow headphones with spikes that was shaped like an Ampharos' ears and a long black wire with a red tip coming from each of them and was as thick as a finger. He wore a short sleeved silver jacket with a red ring on one shoulder and a blue one on the other along with black trousers and shoes.

"That's one weird looking forme." Natsu noted.

 _Well it's not like any of the other have a strange look but whatever._ Rex thought in annoyance but resumed the battle as sparks began flowing around his arms and used his next attack. " **Shock Wave!** " A small blue bolt of electricity fired towards Natsu who remembered the attack from their fight against Erigor and dodged it, only to find that it was following him and he got hit by it.

"So he uses lightning? That kinda reminds me of Laxus." Droy whispered to Jet who nodded in agreement.

"What happened there?" Erza asked with a frown.

"Shock Wave is one of the few moves that cannot miss. Even if you dodge it at first it'll pursue you until you get hit though it is rather weak compared to other attacks." Magmortar supplied helpfully.

This didn't seem to deter Natsu as he charged forwards with a blazing fist and was Rex replied the favour by throwing a Thunder Punch in return and they were both evenly matched and sent out a shockwave around them, making both move backwards to regain their footage. " **Wild Charge!** " Rex shouted and then ran forwards with his entire body surrounded in blue electricity and tackled Natsu with the same force used by Take Down.

Using one hand Natsu regained his balance before he ran forwards, though nothing was on fire and Rex took a while to think about what he was going to do and avoided it only for Natsu to have both of his arms ablaze. " **Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!** " He called out and spun around, hitting Rex multiple times.

Stumbling backwards Rex tried to attack again but with Thunder Punch as opposed to using Thunderbolt as he saw Natsu getting his hands together ready for another Roar. _This isn't going to end well._ He thought and was completely engulfed by the fire the followed and was sent sprawling across the floor and rolled around several times before slowly getting back up again to face him, with several burns on his body.

"Damnit, gotta be smarter than that. Got reckless." Rex muttered to himself and quickly formed a green shield to protect him from the next attack and then once that subsided he used Work Up to help himself focus and clenched his fists. "You know I have to say that I didn't expect you to be this strong, I'm only getting by thanks to my knowledge of pokémon battles."

"Thanks man! You're not so bad yourself. But I'm not gonna hold back!" Natsu grinned and charged forwards with his fists on fire.

Staying still Rex waited for him to come close and he then jumped backwards to avoid the first punch that was thrown and then decided to use a different move. " **Disable!** " He snapped his fingers, there was a brief flash of light and then the flames on Natsu's fists suddenly disappeared, leaving him open to a few bare fists.

Realising that his flames weren't working Natsu stopped and tried again. "Hey, why can't I use my fists?" He asked and tried several more times.

Wasting no time a green orb of energy formed around Rex's fist and then he punched Natsu in the gut " **Drain Punch.** As the name implies it drains your health and restores half of the damage taken to me." This was accompanied by a green wave across his body and some of the burns and wounds inflicted by Natsu had disappeared.

"So he can heal as well? Just what can this guy do?" Happy asked in amazement.

"Although he only has access to six types he can do quite a lot of things based on those types alone. It really comes down to what you can do with them." Sceptile admitted.

There were several funny looks sent towards the Trainer who was in the fight, with some of them wondering how strong he was and whether or not that he was strong enough to defeat any of Fairy Tail's S-Class wizards. Those whispers quickly died down and they turned their attention back to the fight.

A blue orb formed in his hands and Rex held it in his hands and watched on in amusement as Natsu continued to try and use his Iron Fist spell to no effect and fired the Focus Blast. Natsu reacted quickly by jumping over the attack and then his arms were alight. " **Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!** " He shouted as he then swiped his arms down and streams of fire followed suit in a pair of spirals.

Rex reacted by inhaling and then using a Fire Blast as the spirals bore down him and managed to block the attack though caught Natsu in part as well. There was the short sound of eating and Magmortar had a look of surprise cross his face as he saw the fire being eaten by Natsu and was then surrounded by a wave of orange energy. "Okay, now I understand Natsu's eagerness when he saw me." He noted.

"Now I've got a fire in my belly **. Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!** " Natsu roared as he charged forwards with his entire body surrounded by fire.

" **Wild Charge!** " Rex responded and his body was coated in electricity and they clashed spectacularly with lightning sparks and flames spreading out from the point of impact before Rex was over powered and he nearly flew right into the crowd but he used one of the wires to grab Natsu's free hand and stop himself before unleashing a Thunderbolt and lighting him up.

"He can attack with those wires as well?" Happy cried out in shock.

Magmortar tensed up at this, recognising the ability to be that of another species of pokémon and felt her arm cannons open out unconsciously once. This went mostly unnoticed, with Erza and Sceptile being the only ones to notice this.

After a few seconds the electricity and fire dissipated they faced each other down for a few moments with Rex taking a few deep breaths to think about what to do next and then remembered something about Natsu. _Types aren't a thing in here, but that doesn't mean there aren't weaknesses with Magic!_ He realised and had a grin on his face before changing into the Splash Plate.

Turning to Jet and Droy Cana cleared her throat, getting their attention. "Alright you two, pay up." She demanded.

"What?" They both asked.

"You said that Rex would need to change twice in the fight, he's done that three times now Jet. Droy, your bet was that Natsu would win in 7 spells or less, it's obviously been more than 7 spells casted by Natsu." Cana explained and they both scowled before paying her money.

There was a smile on Erza's face. She had thought along the same lines as him. "It looks as if this fight is over." She commented.

"Wait, how do you know?" Gray asked.

"It's the grin on his face, it shows that he has a plan." Erza replied.

A translucent blue orb appeared in his hands but instead of attacking Natsu Rex threw it into the air. There was a ring of energy spreading out over the battleground followed by black clouds and it started raining down but only Rex and Natsu were affected by it. "I'll give you one chance to surrender Natsu."

"No way! **Fire Dragon's Roar!** " Natsu replied and then fired a stream of flames but it was weaker than the last time and it looked like it didn't have much of an effect on him. "What?"

"That move was Rain Dance. Under the rain, water moves are boosted and fire moves are weakened. Add the fact that I am using the Splash Plate that reduces the damage done to a quarter." Rex explained to Natsu, who didn't quite fully understand that last part.

"Doesn't matter! I can still beat you!" Natsu retorted.

His attack was interrupted by a blast of water coming from Rex's mouth that was much stronger than last time and he barrelled into the crowd. "Ow man what the hell?" Natsu groaned as he stumbled back into the arena.

"Well don't say that I didn't warn you." Rex sighed and then raised his hands above his head and a whirlpool formed from a bright white light that got bigger until it was several metres wide. " **Whirlpool!** " He threw it at Natsu.

Not realising what was going to happen he charged forwards and was almost immediately swamped by the body of water and was spinning around and around, with his cry for help quite literally drowned out. "Did he use that idiot's motion sickness against him?" Gray asked, not amused by Natsu's antics.

"Rex is using his brain like a real man!" Elfman declared with a grin.

There was a crash as the whirlpool dissipated to reveal a motion sick Natsu lying on the ground with his eyes rolling around from the dizziness. Makarov didn't even need to check on Natsu as he was over with Rex. "Rex has won this fight!" Came the announcement.

This resulted in the crowd erupting into cheers for him, though some were annoyed at having bet on Natsu. As the fight was over those who had made money were gathering around Cana to make sure that they got their share whilst others crowded around Rex to congratulate him on winning the match. "Using Natsu's weakness against him was a very clever move." Erza congratulated him and smacked his head against her breastplate.

"Ow! Thanks, though back home knowing a pokémon's strengths and weaknesses is basic knowledge." Rex replied modestly.

Gray had walked over to Natsu with a scowl on his face. "Good going you fiery idiot, I lost several thousand Jewel!" He yelled at the still motion sick dragon slayer before walking back to Rex.

"Can you put some clothes on Gray?" Cana asked.

"What?" Gray asked and looked down. Seeing that he had indeed stripped down to his pants again he panicked and ran around the area to find his scattered clothes.

There was a disapproving look that Rex sent towards Gray who looked away, doing his best to ignore the fact that he had accidently insulted Mirajane right before the fight started. Natsu was slowly coming to his senses and when he woke up he was confused at first as to where the rain had gone. "Hey Happy, what happened? I thought that it was raining during our fight."

The blue cat had received his money from Cana and was doing his best to hide it. "Well you tried attacking Rex and then he attacked you first and you were spinning around a lot."

Natsu felt his stomach churn at the thought of spinning around. "Don't talk to me about spinning around. Hang on, what's that behind you?" He asked with a frown.

Happy nervously looked around, pretending not to see anything. "What are you talking about Natsu, I-I don't see anything." He replied, keeping a straight face.

"I can tell when you're lying. You bet against me didn't you!" Natsu shouted in annoyance before he got back and up and then turned to face Rex. "Alright, let's go again!"

This amused Rex who then activated the Sky Plate and spread his wings. "Is that really a good idea? I suppose if you wanted to fly around for a bit and get a good look at Magnolia Town." Rex casually suggested and Natsu gulped and felt queasy at the suggestion and crossed his arms in defeat.

"Then I'll challenge you to a fight Erza!" Natsu shouted once he recovered from his bout of queasiness, and he found that he could set his fists on fire again.

Before that could happen though a slow clap interrupted and the crowd parted to reveal a strange human like frog with pale green skin and darker patches at the side. It was wearing a dark blue uniform with purple around the edges and a small blue hat on top. "Attention please! May I have your attention!" The voice, identifying this frog as female, rang out and everyone stopped to look at her with a lot of surprised looks being thrown their way. "I am a messenger from the Council!"

"The Magic Council? What are they doing here?" Droy whispered to Jet.

"I think we all know why, though why now?" Jet whispered back and turned to face the frog.

Lucy chose to freak out over her appearance more than anything else. "I am the only one here who is freaking out over the fact that she is a frog?!" She cried out and Sceptile and Magmortar rolled their eyes.

"As a result of the Eisenwald incident two members of the Guild have been charged with a combined eleven counts of property damage. The Magic Council has placed Erza Scarlet under arrest!" The frog declared and pointed at her before turning her attention to Rex. The messenger took a few steps back in apprehension before pointing at him as well. "In addition, the Council would to place this white-haired Take Over user under arrest for the complete destruction of the Guild Masters Conference Hall! Please do not try to resist arrest!" She continued in a tone that didn't invite discussion.

"WHAT?" Natsu shouted in outrage and glared at the messenger. "No way! You can't do that!"

"Natsu, we can't argue with the Council." Erza interjected.

Several things had been going through his mind at once though the biggest concern for Rex was whether or not the Magic Council had already learned about the origins of his powers. That would be bad for him and he didn't like what the Council would do if they found out about the Pokémon world. "Calm down Natsu, if the Council want to see me about the damage done then I can't do anything about it. Fine we'll come with you." Rex replied in a neutral tone, not sure what to think of this. Given the way Makarov reacted during his first day at the Guild he didn't have very high expectations.

It took the combined force of Gray and Lucy to stop Natsu from lashing out at the messenger and they both saw a couple of guards secured handcuffs on both of them. They were made of a smooth gray metal with a red orb in the middle and had an enchantment on them that prevented the user from casting Spells, though Rex knew it was going to fail on him but made no mention of it.

The inside of the carriage they were seated in was plain and rather dark with the only source of light coming through the door though it was a hazy light because of the thin cloud cover. It was silent for the most part with the occasional sentence moved between them. "What should I expect from them?" Rex asked.

The question was to pass time but he may as well find out a bit more. "Well the Magic Council are putting us on trial for the damage we have caused. We'll be put before them but they are almost never there in the flesh, they make use of a Thought Projection." She explained.

"I… see." Rex replied slowly and shifted in his side of the carriage.

"You're worried about them." It was a statement, not a question.

Rex leaned over and then whispered the next part. "Well if they find out I am from another world then things could get sticky." Once he said this the carriage went over a bump in the road and Rex was thrown back into his seat, "OW! Besides I don't really like the sound of them."

"Silence!" Came a gruff bark from the outside and Rex stuck his tongue out like a child and they remained silent for the rest of the journey.

Back at the Guild Hall everything went silent, with everyone sitting at the tables and not saying a word. Well, almost everyone. Natsu, who for some reason was looking like a Salamander, was currently trapped in a glass and yelling his mouth off again. "This isn't fair you guys let me out of here already!" He protested.

"Natsu! Try to calm down. We can't do anything about Erza and Rex!" Mirajane replied.

"I promise to be good I swear! Now just let me out of this glass and turn me back please!" HE continued shouting and waved his arms around frantically.

Mirajane walked over and moved down to his eye level. "If I let out you'll just go on a rampage against the Council!" She pointed.

"Beside even if you run all the way to the Council you can't just force them to hand them over. It's not like we can just face off with the Council." Gray pointed out, arms folded.

"Don't those jerks realise that Erza and Rex did what they had to do in order to save the Guild Masters and stop the bad guys from using the Lullaby!"

Gray looked away from Natsu. "If the magic Council says something is black then it's black and nobody can overturn that. Nobody will change their minds about that."

Elfman had his hands in his arms and was frowning. "This doesn't add up. We've destroyed countless property before why are taking action now?" He asked.

Lucy was lying the top half of her body down on the table along with one arms and staring at the walls of the Guild. "It feels as if there was another reason for this." She muttered.

* * *

 **Magic Council Fiore Branch Building**

Once they had arrived the door open and they were escorted out by a group of white and light blue clad people that featured an ankh symbol on the had both arrived at the Fiore Branch of the Magic Council and it was easily the most bizarre building that Rex had seen in his life, which was saying something considering some of the other buildings he had seen. It was split into two separate parts to it with the bottom part being a hexagonal building with a bowl shape on the top of it and then a floating island with a smaller building on top of it that had a red and blue ring around with several hexagonal buildings joined together. Rex felt his head beginning to ache from looking at it, something like that was impossible back home.

After being guided for nearly an hour the Rune Knights that escorted them left so it was just the two of them and the messenger to walk towards the courtroom but stopped just outside as they came across a single male standing in the shadow of a pillar. The messenger bowed but Erza inhaled sharply and took a step back. "Siegrain!" She started.

Siegrain was a blue haired male with a red tattoo on the right side of his face and he was wearing a white frock-coat with black stripes across the edges and buckles down the middle. Siegrain was wearing a pair of plain white trousers and walked over to them. "Hello Erza, it's good to see you again. Please do try to relax I am only here in spirit. In fact, all of them are here from Era in spirit." Siegrain added as he seemed to flicker like an illusion for a moment.

"I see. Is this your doing?" She asked.

"Your accusation wounds me, you should know that I am always the most ardent supporter of the Fairy Tail Guild aside from Yajima. Unfortunately for you the elders are worried that the blame for the little incident with Eisenwald and they want to set an example." Siegrain replied calmly and walked in closer to the pair of them.

"Does that make us scapegoats then?" Rex asked with a neutral look on his face.

If there was surprise on his face for the interruption he didn't show it and instead seemed to take interest in this new wizard. "If you want to call it that, though it wasn't my idea." Siegrain replied and took a longer look at him before continuing, "Although the Council have also taken notice about your unusual abilities and some of them feel a little uneasy with how you dispatched of the Lullaby monster." Siegrain decided to leave out the fact that the Council were already aware of Rex's presence in Earthland from the Hargeon Port incident.

"So they're going to blame me for saving the Guild Masters?" Rex asked with a cool tone and took a step closer to the Council member.

"I can't say for certain what there are going to do, though cooperating with them is highly advised." Siegrain suggested.

"Let's hope they're not hostile to me then." Rex replied.

Siegrain smirked in amusement before taking a few steps closer to Erza and leaning in to her ear and he began whispering in her ear, "Be sure not to mention _that_ to the old farts. For both our sakes."

There was no reaction from her but to continue glaring at Siegrain. Although he didn't get any of that Rex safely assumed that whatever it was wasn't very good. They watched as he walked away before disappearing with a flicker and the messenger looked at Erza with a mixture of fear, awe and apprehension. "Wow… you know some powerful people." She remarked.

"Evil people." Erza corrected her.

Both of them looked at Erza with questioning looks on their faces though they chose to not probe it any further and were guided into the courtroom and the doors opened. There were several wmpty rows and there was a stand that was wide enough for the both of them and their guide moved away to a seat below the row where the Magic Council were sitting. All of them were Thought Projections and flickered on occasions.

Recalling what Siegrain had said about cooperating with the Council he looked at him again before looking at the other members. They were a varied bunch that was for certain. _Cooperation is fine by me as long as they don't try anything funny Siegrain._ He thought as both handcuffed members took the stand.

"This court is now in session. The defendants have been charged with eleven counts of property damage with the most serious being the destruction of the Guild Masters Conference Hall done by a young male wizard who has been described as having the ability to change his looks completely. Other charges include damage done to Oshibana Station, the train line from Oshibana Station to Clover Town alongside several other buildings."

The person who read this out was broad, tall and had a bushy beard that covered the top half of his body and he was wearing a hat. His eyes had a slightly droopy look to them as he read out the charges, though judging from the important sound of his voice Rex took a guess that this was the head of the Council in Fiore.

"Though we are aware of Miss Scarlet we don't have any information about the young man with the strange Take Over abilities. We'll start by-"

The Chairman was interrupted by Rex, who immediately didn't take a liking to the way he was being spoken to. "I think it would be best if you started by thanking me for defeating Lullaby. If it wasn't for the work of me and my friends from the Guild you'd be in even more trouble."

There was a short silence before another one of the members spoke up, this one was bald on top but had long grey hair down his sides and a long thing beard that was partially hidden underneath the desk. "But you also destroyed the Conference Hall! You should be lucky that you aren't locked up right away!" He interjected.

"Sit down Org. Despite his outburst he is correct, you should be thankful." The Chairman repeated sternly.

"For what? Being arrested? If that's so then there I'd to know what's so good about that." Rex replied coolly, resisting the urge to break the handcuffs.

"I think it would be best if we did thank him first. That would a good way to deflate some of the tension." A small old man with a brown three pointed hat admitted.

"You're not serious Yajima!" The Chairman looked positively shocked at the idea.

"Yajima does have a point, Chairman Crawford. I think that the Take Over wizard would be far more likely to cooperate if we comply with this demand as well." Siegrain added and the younger female member of the Council nodded to show her support as well.

Seeing as how three people supported the notion, Crawford Seam grumbled for a bit before clearing his throat. "Alright, as several other members of the Council seem to be in favour I will grant it. The Council recognises the good done by this wizard and thanks him for stopping the Lullaby monster. Moving on we don't have a record about you and would like to know more about you and your Magic." He continued.

Seeing as that was the closest thing to a genuine thank you as he was going to get from Crawford, Rex decided not to push it further but was still uncertain about him and kept his mouth closed. There was something about the person that put him off and he clenched his fists tightly.

"Perhaps someone else should question him, like Ultear. She has a way of making some of the more weary people talk freely." Siegrain proposed to the annoyance of Crawford.

"Very well. Ultear will now question you, young man." Crawford ordered.

Ultear was a short female wizard with dark purple hair and red eyes and was wearing a short white dress with a yellow belt around the waist that only had one sleeve and a red choker around her neck. Her Thought Projection walked slowly down from the where the others were seated and then stood on the same level as Rex and Erza. "You do not need to worry young man. As you heard my name is Ultear, I work in the same office as Siegrain." She introduced herself, speaking in a relaxing, level tone. "As my less disciplined Council members want to know, we can start with who you are and what your Magic is exactly."

Thankful that someone was being able to listen to reason Rex finally felt himself relax before he started to talk. "My name is Rex Vermend and the Magic use is known as Multitype. It's considered a lost form of Take Over Magic."

"Lost would certainly be the word, we don't even have anything on record." Ultear agreed. "If we took off those cuffs could we see a demonstration? We do have footage of it but perhaps if we saw it in person…?" She trailed off with a questioning look towards Crawford. Chairman Crawford let out a sigh and nodded to one of the guards in the room who took off the cuffs off.

Erza took a step backwards to give him room and they all watched as Rex's body briefly shone a beautiful golden colour before it revealed his Flying form and then gave a demonstration as wings appeared and he circled the courtroom three times and then landed and changed back to normal. "Incredible." Some of the Council members breathed as the handcuffs went back on.

"That's all very well and good but what I want to know is how you got that Magic." Crawford demanded and there were a few exasperated looks from the other members and then grumbled as he remembered that Ultear was the one questioning him.

After having the question repeated to him Rex nodded before taking in a deep breath and going into a rather long explanation about how he got his 'Magic'. "I came to Fiore from outside the country, somewhere in northern Minstrel. I lived about a mile outside of town with one of my parents and I try to help him out whenever I can, so I haven't been outside my home for more than a few days until recently. It was mostly working on a farm and getting a lot of exercise done, which did leave me feeling like an outsider whenever I was around city people and I didn't make many friends. As for my Magic it was an accident as to how I got it. It was a cold winter day with the clouds over and it looked like it was threatening to rain so I tried to run back as hard as could but I ended up getting lost. I tried several different ways to get back home but I hadn't a clue where I was going, which was in the direction of a mountain several miles away from the city. I stumbled across what looked like the entrance to an old cave but was really some ruins that belonged to some old figure whose name I can't remember. Something happened… I can't quite recall what and the next thing I know was that I could change into these different forms with all of these crazy abilities. This was about two years ago and since then I've been learning to control them and get used to the fact that I have Magic and a month ago I decided to go to one of the Guilds in Fiore and got caught up with Natsu at Hargeon."

"We are aware of what Natsu Dragneel did in Hargeon Port ad we also have some footage of your involvement in it." Crawford noted in a more neutral tone.

 _They did? I'm surprised they took notice of me now and not then._ Rex thought with a slight frown.

Ultear's expression gave away nothing. "Do you try to remember anything about what happened?" She asked, curiousity growing inside of her.

Rex paused and pretended to think about this one. "I've tried but when I do my memory seems fuzzy and distant, as if I'm not supposed to remember it. I'm sorry about that, but I know more about the Magic itself rather than its origins."

This caused a stir amongst some of the Council who were less than a little happy and this explanation but few could outright challenge that story because wat Rex had described was Lost Magic.

"I see. That's quite a story, and we don't have much choice but to accept what he tells us." Belno admitted to the others. She was the only other female member of the Council and appearance wise she couldn't be much more different than Ultear. The dark-haired female was young and wore more provocative clothing whereas she was older and more modest.

"Why is that?" Crawford challenged in an almost astonished look.

"What he told us fits with what happened at Hargeon and-"

Whatever Siegrain was going to say was interrupted by the sound of an explosion and a brief burst of flames suddenly appeared to reveal Natsu who seemed to be dressed up in a very poor imitation of Erza an spouting flame from his mouth and yelling at the top of his lungs. "ALL RIGHT YOU JERKS! YOU WANT TO ARREST ERZA THEN HERE SHE IS! THAT'S RIGHT YOU GOTTA BE DEALING WITH ME NOW! IF YOU MESS WITH THE GUILD THEN PREPARE TO FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!" He roared.

Happy was dressed up as even poorer looking Rex Vermend. "AYE! I'm the weird Multitype wizard who destroyed the conference hall!" He declared.

There was a complete silence as everyone took a moment to process what had happened. Rex simply groaned and buried his face in his hands, Erza was looking more than a little annoyed at his antics and the Magic Council were stunned aside from Siegrain who had as amused smile on his face and Ultear who hid a smile with her sleeve.

"Natsu you fool!" Erza began and started.

"Hey wait a sec I- UH, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT NOT-ERZA? I AM THE RE- ack!" Natsu choked as she smacked him in the head.

"Please forgive me for his foolishness!" Erza bowed several times to the Council members.

This unfortunately didn't save them as Crawford ordered that they be locked up for the night and as a result all of them were sharing a single cell, even Happy who didn't look too thrilled to be spending a night in jail. Rex had decided to act like Natsu wasn't there until Erza started shouting at him. "Didn't you think about your reckless actions before you decided to try and save us! If you had stayed at the Guild then we would already be on our way home and I would have to pay a simple fine!" She lectured.

This made Rex suddenly remember that Natsu and Happy were in the same room as the two of them. "Wait what?!" He cried out before giving the two of them a fierce glare to rival Erza's and they shrunk away from both of them.

"It was merely a formality. They were simply doing this to remind us that they can and will punish us for breaking the law!" She explained further and that intensified the glare that Rex was giving.

"Aw come on I didn't know that! I was only trying to help you." Natsu pouted and looked away.

There was silence for a moment before Erza's glare softened and she let out a defeated sigh. "Even though I am still annoyed at you Natsu, you were trying to help. It was kind of funny to see the looks on their faces." She admitted after a while and then smacked his head against her breastplate, with Happy trying his hardest not to laugh and causing them to get into a silly argument.

"…I guess you pretending to be me was kind of funny in the sense that your was so terrible it was funny." Rex admitted to Happy with a small chuckle and cleared his throat.

As they made quiet conversation with each other about the trial one of the Council members was listening in around the corner and had an amused smirk on his face. It was Siegrain who was just standing there and listening to what was going on. "So this is Natsu Dragneel, the son of Igneel. I'm surprised that you got all the way here. I shall look forwards to your progress and yours too Rex Vermend." He mused to himself, quiet enough so that the only person who could hear him talking with himself. Thinking back to the story that the Multitype wizard had told him, Siegrain began to wonder if that was the truth and left without making a sound.

 **Next Chapter – The First Job**

* * *

 **Finally I got this chapter done, sorry about the delay. Basically life happened and I needed to get on fast with some of the work I needed and well I had to cope with stress. Did anyone expect to see Magmortar? Next couple of chapters will be an original arc then Phantom Lord. Something that needs to be pointed out is that Crawford was the Chairman until after the Tower of Heaven Arc.**


	6. The First Job

**Recap:** Following the destruction of the Conference Hall the Council debated about what to do before deciding on making an example of the people responsible. Back at the Guild Hall Erza demanded to know where Rex really came from. Seeing as he had no choice, Rex eventually gave up that information including his first pokémon Magmortar but most people reluctantly accepted that. Natsu finally had his battle with Rex with the trainer winning his fight, but the Council showed up to take Rex and Erza in for question. Although he managed to convince the Council that he was from Earthland for a moment Natsu busted in trying to pass himself as Erza and got them locked up - with Siegrain watching from the shadows.

* * *

 **Chapter 6 – The First Job**

As soon as they had been escorted back to the Guild there was the sounds of cheering coming from Natsu and Happy, who were both jumping on the table and doing a silly dance. "Sweet, sweet freedom! I'm gonna spend the rest of the day breathing in this air!" Natsu crowed, with a mug of fire in his hand. How it didn't burn up was a mystery to Rex though he guessed that it had something to with Magic.

Jet and Droy were sitting down at the same table Natsu was dancing on and both of them were annoyed at him. "Settle down already!" Jet complained.

"Make him stop, someone please make him stop." Droy added as he looked away in embarrassment.

The tension in the Guild relaxed massively once Erza had explained that the Magic Council would let them off with a slap on the wrist and Natsu had had a sheepish look on his face when they told the Guild about what he did, though Makarov didn't do anything about his behaviour. Rex was sitting down at the bar and looking away from Natsu, put out that his concern over the Council was all for nothing.

Lucy was also feeling this was and let out a small groan. "So much for all that worrying. I can't believe that they did nothing in the end." That wasn't entirely true as Erza still had to pay a fine, though it was a rather substantial one.

Gray and Elfman were sat at the same table and the former then smacked a fist into his palm. "I got it! The reason they sent a 'toady' to tell us they would be released 'today'!" He joked.

Elfman shuddered and just stared at Gray. "For an ice wizard, your puns sure are cold!" He complained.

"Isn't it cute how he's acting all happy like that?" Mirajane remarked with a smile.

A light grumble turned her attention to Rex. "Cute as it maybe we could have arrived at Magnolia Town yesterday instead of this morning if it weren't for Natsu." He pointed out, with both Sceptile and Magmortar returning to their respective Poké Balls. Rex was relieved that no one questioned about where he really came from though remembered that none of his pokémon were present.

Mirajane didn't reply though she did stare at him for a few moments before speaking up again. "Well about this whole coming from a different world, I'm not sure if I still fully believe it yet. It sounds too crazy." She admitted in a hesitant tone.

Rex looked up at her for several moments before nodding in understanding. "That was one more reason to hide things from everyone. If I told you and the Guild about it right from the start I doubt you would believe me at all if it weren't for Erza." He waved it off and then looked over at the red-haired wizard. To his surprise she was sitting all alone at one of the tables having a meal and ignoring everything that was going on around her. Was it something to do with Siegrain?

Makarov, who was sitting on the bar hid a sly grin on his face and pretended to cough as if something went down his throat the wrong way. However, the mention of Erza made Natsu stop and turn around to face her. "Alright Erza, let's have our rematch right now!" He declared and set his fists on fire.

"No thank you Natsu, I'm not in the mood right." Erza replied flatly, though strangely she didn't turn to face him.

No one appeared to be surprised about this aside from Rex who stood up to stop him but Mirajane laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. As he slowly sat back down, Erza let out a sigh. "If I must then I must." She declared in her normal tone before landing a single powerful blow in the form of an uppercut. The Guild watched as Natsu hit the ceiling before falling down onto the floor, unconscious.

There was a moment of silence before Gray and Elfman burst out laughing. "Nice going idiot!" Gray shouted once he regained his breath.

"At least we know who the real man is!" Elfman agreed.

A small chuckle escaped Rex's lips as he sat back down, seeing that there was nothing to fear and looked over at Master Makarov who nearly dozed off and shook himself awake. "Is something wrong Master?" Mirajane asked.

"No, I'm fine, I just felt a little sleepy. He's coming." Makarov replied in a warning tone and Mirajane eventually fell asleep and collapsed behind the bar.

"Not again…!" Gray called out with an outstretched hand and succumbed to this sudden feeling of sleepiness along with the other guild members one by one.

This feeling was threatening to overcome Rex though he avoided it by smacking himself in the face with Wake-Up Slap and then got up to sense whoever was approaching the Guild Hall. He wouldn't hesitate to fight the person who was walking into the door but Makarov held out a hand and called out, "Wait!"

There was a robed figure entering the Guild Hall with a dark green bandana and a dark blue head mask that covered his head completely with a silver protector on the fore head. He had bandages around his arms and legs and wore dark blue gloves. All of his body was covered up save for a fraction of his face and a group of wooden staves were carried on his back.

"Mystogan…" Makarov muttered.

"Who are you?" Rex asked, not as hostile as earlier but still far from trusting him.

Mystogan turned to Rex in surprise and stared him down. "You're resisting my Sleep Magic?" He asked wearily.

"Barely, now please turn it off because it's putting me on edge." Rex requested and his head slowly felt lighter. "Why the strange looking get up?"

There was a pause before Mystogan replied though it was a careful one. "The reason is a personal one between me and the Master." He then walked over to the job board and inspected it carefully before taking one of the jobs and handing it to Makarov. "I'm taking this job."

"Don't forget to lift this Sleep magic when you leave, got it?" Makarov replied grumpily, his energy returning to him too.

Mystogan nodded once and started counting down from five when he was near the door. As he did so Rex reflected on how secretive this particular member was being and it didn't sit well with him, considering that Fairy Tail had been described as a family Mystogan was acting like the complete opposite. Once he had passed through the doors completely the sleep had been lifted and everyone expect Natsu had woken up suddenly.

"Did Mystogan just come through now? What a jerk." Droy groaned, still feeling groggy.

"That Sleep Spell is still as powerful as ever." Levy noted.

Lucy was confused by this. "Uhh… Mystogan?" She asked.

"He's a contender for the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail." Jet told her.

"Isn't Erza the strongest?" Rex asked as he came over and sat down using a stool.

Jet shook his head. "There is no doubt that she's the strongest female wizard in the Guild but when it comes to the strongest overall however she is definitely outclassed. Mystogan is one of the candidates along with the old man, though no one has ever seen his face." He concluded, not aware of the fact that Rex had been able to resist his Sleep Magic.

"That's not true. I've seen his face before. Mystogan is just shy so you should respect his privacy." A deep voice called out from the floor above, getting the attention of everyone in the Guild.

"Laxus?!" Elfman called out in surprise.

"You're never here." Wakaba noted, both of them were standing up and there was a small crowd forming around the pair.

Laxus was a tall blonde-haired man with a lightning bolt scar on the left side of his face and he was wearing a green shirt with leopard spots on it underneath a large black coat with grey fur around the sleeves and collar and wearing a strange looking set of headphones with spikes coming out of the side of them alongside a pair of black pants. There was a grin on his face though this didn't look as friendly as the other ones he had seen today. Nobody noticed that Natsu had woken up upon hearing his name.

"Here's another contender for the strongest wizard." Gray added.

"Alright Laxus, you and me right now!" Natsu demanded, jumping up on the table.

"Getting your butt kicked by Rex and then Erza wasn't enough for you?" Gray asked, not the least bit surprised.

There was a chuckle of amusement from Laxus. "He's right. If you can't beat the newbie or the redhead then what makes you think you stand a chance against me?" he taunted. Makarov merely sighed and kept his eyes closed, knowing this wasn't going to end well.

This riled up Erza stood up and glared fiercely at him. "What is that supposed to mean?" She demanded, making a shirtless Gray jump.

It had to have been a record time for Rex to dislike someone, though he guessed it was because it reminded him of one of his rivals back home and how he was similarly arrogant. _Why do I always seem to run into these kinds of people?_ He thought, annoyed and unimpressed with what was going on and stood up slowly, glaring silently at Laxus.

"Come down here and face me you coward!" Natsu shouted.

Laxus leaned over the railing. "You come to me little man!" He challenged.

This was all Natsu needed as he charged right for the stairs leading up to the second floor and nearly made it too, but Makarov then enlarged his arm and smacked him down into the floor and held him there. "Not yet Natsu! You know you're not allowed to go up there." Makarov stated.

As Natsu thrashed around on the floor Laxus was laughing again. "I think you made him mad!" He added and that only seemed to further aggravate Natsu who began letting out streams of fire.

Makarov raised an eyebrow and looked up. "Laxus, stop it!" He ordered though it sounded half hearted.

Although he obeyed Laxus couldn't resist getting another dig at the rest of the Guild. "Listen up, the strongest member in the Guild is not some chick with armour, a mysterious freak or even that old guy. If you wanna know who that person is you're looking right at him!" He declared with a smirk on his face.

There was a hollow laugh that escaped Rex and Laxus turned to face him with a look of mild surprise. Everyone saw the calm expression on his face, also seeing the fire that was behind those eyes and watched with baited breath. "If you seriously think that you're the strongest in the Guild bolt brain then you're dead wrong. With that kind of attitude, you're nowhere near the strongest." Rex replied and there were some nervous looks thrown back at Laxus.

"What did you say?" Laxus growled threateningly in reply. Several of the Guild members backed away, sensing a fight.

"I'm sure that you'd love to fight me but then you would have that beautiful face of yours turn ugly." Rex replied and embers danced around his mouth. Although he was still feeling a little bit sore from fighting Natsu he would gladly ignore the pain if it meant knocking some sense into him.

Makarov intervened before things got any hotter. "That's enough! There will be no further fighting today!" He barked out and they both backed down, and Rex moved so that he was directly underneath the second floor and so that he could get Laxus out of his sight. Likewise, the blonde-haired wizard moved further back into the second floor so that no one could see him and then he vanished in a flash of lightning.

"If I wasn't here to see then I don't think that I'd believe it." Gray noted in shock.

"Yeah, it takes a lot of manliness to say those things in front of Laxus." Elfman added in a hushed tone.

"That's a first." Mirajane noted at the bar and Rex gave her a questioning look. "I meant about what you said to Laxus was the first time someone has said something like that to him whenever he mouths off about the Guild." She then frowned and dropped her arms. "Seriously though, despite his attitude problem Laxus is a strong wizard."

Sitting back up he folded his arms. "So, what's up with the second floor and why wasn't Natsu allowed on it?" Rex asked and Lucy had come over to join him.

"The second floor is for S-Class wizards only. They have proven themselves to be better than the rest of the Guild and are really dangerous missions, a single mistake could cost your life but the pay makes regular jobs look like a joke. It's the job of the Master to decide who should become one or not. As you can gather Laxus is one of those S-Class wizards and so is Erza." Mirajane explained. The thought of fighting ridiculously large monsters made Lucy quiver in fright but Rex felt himself pumped up and grinned.

As Rex went over to the request board he spied Happy making a dash for the entrance with a folded piece of paper in his hands and thought nothing of it. If he was going to find Arceus' Plates then he needed to do a lot of job requests and go to all sorts of places and looked at each of the different jobs in detail as did the pay. Taking out a Poké Ball he sent out Magmortar.

"Why don't you help me? There are a lot of jobs on here and I don't know which one to pick." Rex asked.

Magmortar wasn't a fool and knew that there was something on his mind and would wait until later to ask him. Turning to the board he began listing off potential jobs out loud. "Book translation, sounds boring and it's not really your thing. Breaking the seal on a cursed weapon… sounds interesting but I don't know how you'd that. Here's one about a small tournament and it says there is a bonus for winning."

Inspecting the sheet of paper that Magmortar was pointing to, Rex shook his head. "We all know how that goes right? If you're not unfairly defeated by an outsider you're either attacked by an organization or a mysterious group manipulates it for their own purposes." He joked and Magmortar let out an amused chuckle.

"This one could be a good place to start." He took a job request and read it. The job was at a place called Lilygreen Town and the objective was to find and search for and defeat monsters, though no further information was given aside from the meeting place and the reward was 360,000 Jewel. "Fighting monsters sounds perfect, just be careful I don't mistake you for one."

"Funny." Magmortar grunted as Rex took the job request and then went over to Mirajane, having seen someone else done this.

"I'll be going on this job." Rex said and Mirajane nodded as she took down the details of the job in a large fat book with a number of different tabs going out of it. _How many jobs were taken in that book?_ He thought out of curiosity and felt himself yawn, the sun was setting and the feeling of tiredness was setting in.

"That's quite a big reward to search for and then fight those monsters. Makes you wonder what sort of monsters they're having to deal with." Magmortar noted.

* * *

 **Near Lilygreen Town**

Looking at the map it showed that Lilygreen Town was in central Fiore and although there were some train track going through it none of them were directly connected to the eastern side of Fiore. A carriage was going to take several hours to get there and he didn't feel like sitting around and his muscles going stiff and decided to take an unusual route – flying.

Once he was in the air, Rex took his time to look down and enjoy the sight of everyone and everything below him. To say that it felt breath taking to him would be an understatement and he did several tricks he had seen other pokémon perform in his journey including a few loop de loops before diving down to get closer to the ground. It was also a good way to practice his flying skills which were a lot better when he started and didn't crash like the last few times.

 _I hope no one noticed my last crash and wonder why several trees have been unnaturally uprooted._ Rex thought, embarrassed at first before turning his mind elsewhere. _This strange sensation that I get whilst flying, it has to be freedom. Going wherever you want without having to follow a set path, flying higher and then diving to a lower altitude, all of these feelings make me understand why they_ _enjoy_ _it._

Snapping out of his thoughts Rex landed on the ground and then returned to his normal form, which seemed to be the only one that came with his bag if he had it on him and took out the map of Fiore again. He was only a couple of miles away and opted to finish the journey by walking.

Lilygreen Town looked a lot smaller than Magnolia though it still looked big enough to fit more in line with a city. Most of the buildings he had seen were only one floor with a few having several floors, and he could spot a light spire that belonged to some sort of church in the distance. Most of the buildings were painted in light, simple colours. So far there hadn't been anything about this town that would warrant a monster to attack.

 _Then again, a wild Hydreigon attacks anything that moves so it's not like it's unusual. It told me to go the shop called Lumber Jacks, what a creative name._ Rex thought, unamused and began looking around the town. Only the main streets had been paved with brick the other streets being formed naturally from the dirt. Something felt off as he was walking to the place, whenever he passed by somebody he would get dirty looks. A mother pulled her young son closer to her and from behind him someone gave him a stink eye and walked away.

The Lumber Jacks shop was one of the few buildings that had looked like it had more than one floor from the outside, though once Rex got inside he saw that the front of the shop had been filled various pieces of furniture. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that it had been handmade and it was very well done.

"Dad!" A tall thin boy in his early teens called out, his voice cracking.

The father was slightly smaller than the boy though had a lot more muscle with his body and was chewing on a pencil like it was a cigarette. "Ah, yer the client who accepted the job offer, correct?" He asked calmly.

"That's right." Rex replied, although he could feel a bit of tension in the air.

"Come into my office lad, we can discuss the job there in private. Make sure you close the shop properly Talen!" Without saying a word Rex obeyed and they went upstairs to a cluttered office with one window that was half open to stop the place from getting. Once his son had closed the door behind them the man relaxed.

"What's up with everyone acting so jumpy?" Rex asked in confusion.

"My apologies about that lad, it's just that it takes this town a while to trust wizards now. Yesterday didn't help with matters either as we came across a blonde guy who we begged for help but he laughed it off and demanded more money than the job requested." The father stated.

"Laxus." Rex growled.

"You know him?" The man asked in response.

"Hate to say it but he's a part of the Guild I'm in." Rex replied with a grumble.

There was a thoughtful look from the person before he grunted. "That's your problem, this is ours. My name is Albus and as you saw from entering my store I'm a carpenter. Normally I would go out into the woods around this town to get the materials necessary but what's been happening as of late is making it impossible for anybody to go out at night." It was short and straight to the point.

"It said search and defeat monsters on the job description. Why the search part?" Rex asked, wanting to clear something up.

As it turned out, reports had been going around several months ago about a monster that appeared during the night. Those unlucky enough to get a glimpse were attacked and their first response was to get a squad of Rune Knights to guard the town from any potential attacks, but nothing happened. Those unknown monsters didn't seem to be doing anything until a serious incident happened about two weeks ago when one of them was attacked and in the ensuing chaos a girl was kidnapped. Another few were then reported to have gone missing a few days later and a curfew for the female members was quickly enforced despite the process, but no job request was ever written up.

"Hang on, a job request _wasn't_ written up? But I thought-" Rex interrupted, starting forwards.

Albus sighed and stroked his beard. "Let me get to the point lad! Ask away once I'm finished. I sent out the job request because I knew that it was the only way to get some serious help. This town hasn't had a great history with Magic, which has led to most of the others being superstitious about wizards."

Albus then explained that around 5 years ago a powerful earthquake had struck central Fiore and damaged or destroyed half the buildings in the area. At first it was believed to have been a natural disaster but then it was reported that a large purple seal had appeared on one side of a nearby mountain before it exploded, meaning that it had been done by a Mage. This combined with those who have died led to anti-wizard sentiments and the town refusing to send out job requests to any of the guilds, the only people they trusted was the Magic Council.

Hearing this made Rex let out a growl of frustration. Aside from understanding why he was not given a completely warm welcome, he really didn't understand what sort of logic these people had to come to that conclusion. The memories of his effort to help defeat Eisenwald alongside Natsu and the others resurfaced, including Kageyama turning himself over to the authorities. This motivated him even more to stop whatever was going on, though wasn't sure where to start. "Where have these monsters been appearing from?"

"Let's see… they've come from the other side of town. That's where you'll find most of the Rune Knights. There might be someone who can help you, his name is Max Tucker and he knows a little bit about Magic." Albus suggested and pointed out the house on a map of the town.

Nodding in thanks he went out on his own and then picked one of the Great Balls and a beam of light appeared to reveal a white bi pedal pokémon with red fur for its hands and black claws along with a bizarre looking red m on its chest and a red left ear that struck through the left eye in a tick shape. Zangoose looked around and sniffed the air. "Aren't you supposed to be finding the plates?" She asked bluntly.

"Keep your voice down about it Zangoose. I am but if we can also accomplish this then it's killing two Pidgey with one stone." Rex replied and began heading to the other side of town followed by the Zangoose. Being in an unfamiliar place was making her on edge as her body tensed up, expecting an ambush.

As they were heading over several of the townspeople stared at Zangoose, mostly in fear of this unknown creature and one of them even foolishly tried to approach Zangoose presumably in a way to stop her, but she snarled at him and he backed off. "Friendly people, aren't they?" She snarked.

"They aren't fond of wizards apparently. Please try to keep your impulses under control." Rex replied and they continued without any further incident.

Despite this, Zangoose still felt on edge as her instincts told her that something was off and tilted her head to the side. The scent of one particular person had stood out for several moments, convincing her that they were being followed but she didn't mention it yet to him. Zangoose scowled silently behind his back, the only thing stopping her was the beatdown that she was going to give to their stalker.

The house they arrived at was just like the one Albus had described it. Compared to the other houses which were simpler in design this one had a more extravagant feeling to it on the outside as it was painted white save for a blue roof in stark contrast to the unpainted houses of the town. After knocking on it there was silence until, "Come in!" could be heard.

The inside of the house didn't have that same neatness as the outside had because of several piles of books that could be seen scattered across the house along with a thin layer of dust. There were seemingly no doors in the house expect for the one that lead to the bedroom, which looked tidier than the rest of the house.

Max Tucker was a somewhat pale looking person with shaggy brown hair and wore a pair of oval shaped glasses and was wearing a light red jacket over a plain shirt, and a pair of brown trousers. "Is there anything I can help you with?" He asked.

"Well I accepted a job request and I was looking to see if you can help with something to do with Magic. I'm part of Fairy Tail." Rex explained and rolled back his sleeves to show his Guild Mark.

There was a look of surprise on his face. "I didn't think that job requests from this village were sent to guilds. If anyone found out I would be in trouble." Max admitted and stared at Zangoose for a moment in surprise.

"What's it to you?" Zangoose growled and Max shook his head.

"Don't worry, someone sent one in secret out of desperation. I'm not going to tell anyone just yet about it. My friend here is called Zangoose and she won't bite you, she'd rather claw you to death." Rex joked and got a glare from Zangoose, one that promised a lot of pain in return for that comment. Unlike previous times Rex wasn't as scared as he could dish it out as well thanks to the Fist Plate.

Eyeing up this strange creature Max nodded once but didn't say anything before getting back to the topic at hand. "Since you're here I take it that means you've heard all about the monsters correct?" Max guessed and they both nodded. "I can't really do much to help you about them, though if you can describe it to me I might be able to help you."

Sniffing the air around him Zangoose noted that his smell was different to that of her Trainer's and asked, "Do you practice Magic?"

"Yes, though it's nothing fancy like Salamander or Titania." Max noted and then casted a Spell that made a small pillar of stone appear. "My Earth Magic isn't much but it's enough to fend off from any hostile people. Though I can give you a helping hand in the right direction."

Accompanied by the resident of the town they headed out towards the edge of the town that had a short path going towards the forest. The number of Rune Knights there was a lot more noticeable compared to the other half which made it look like there was one of them at every street corner and frequently sent a look of concern towards Zangoose, who chose to ignore it and focus forwards along with her Trainer.

This apparently wasn't good enough for one of the townsfolk who brandished a broomstick with the intent of attacking Zangoose. "Monster!" He shouted in a tone that was equal parts anger and frustration.

Zangoose waited until the last moment before a brief white glow enveloped her body and the broomstick bounced off of her with no damage being done to her, confusing the attacker for a moment. Turning to face the assailant she stared at him as her claw unsheathed. "Are you gonna continue acting stupid, or will you continue on with this pointless assault?" She asked in a disinterested tone.

"Not until a wild animal like you has been put down!" He shouted in defiance though was sweating profusely. Zangoose shrugged, she did try to be fair to him and both her claws were glowing with energy as she slashed at the broomstick in an x formation and watched as it broke into four pieces. "Did you see that? This monster threatened me!" He shouted wildly, attracting a small crowd.

Rex had had enough of this annoying nonsense and then walked up to the man. "Listen, Zangoose won't just attack you out of spite. She'll only do so if you continue blindly attacking her. Furthermore, if you pay attention then you'll notice that she isn't attacking anyone else." He explained.

The Rune Knights had responded quickly to the situation, pausing as Rex spoke to the man before picking him up and taking him away from the group of them before one of them addressed him. "Although we appreciate you stopping things we request that the creature be returned to wherever it came from."

"Not a chance. Zangoose is staying out with me and anyone can challenge her to a fight if they so wish." Rex contested, and the local people looked at her in apprehension before they slowly backed off under her cool stare.

Not waiting for an answer, he carried on walking and noticed that Max was sweating nervously at what had happened and just looked at Rex in amazement. "Is it really a good idea to talk that way to the Rune Knights?" Max asked.

"Maybe not but what happened isn't her fault and I won't let anyone else force her to leave." Rex replied.

Zangoose smirked. "It's rare to see you be so concerned about me."

"Don't push your luck." Came the quick retort and Max couldn't help but let out a light chuckle.

Once they were out of sight Max began quickening his pace and then took a sudden left through the trees and both people struggled with getting through the clearing. Zangoose was having little problem as she was small and agile enough to get through most of the trees and slashed away cleanly at anything that was a problem for her with her claws. After making it past that obstacle they came to a wide-open area and both of them gasped to see a large fissure that had opened up, presumably from the earthquake that happened years ago as everything has settled, including a couple of fallen trees.

"I shaped the steps a bit with my Magic but please proceed with caution. I don't know how stable the area underneath is." Max added, pointing to the curve that descended into the cave.

"Stay here to guard the area as well as Max." Rex instructed and Zangoose nodded though was annoyed that she wasn't able to come with him and was stuck with guard duty. That being said the scent of someone following her still put her on edge and she turned to face the trees.

Descending into the cave it darkened quickly but it didn't reach pitch black for him yet, Rex guessed that he was only able to see a couple of metres in front of him. This didn't bother him as he remembered going through Granite Cave in Hoenn just to deliver a single letter to someone and wasn't an easy thing to do, doubly so without any of the powers granted to him. It helped that it felt pleasantly cool, just like the aforementioned Granite Cave.

"This cave is bigger than I expected it to be." Rex noted before turning and running down the left path. As he walked further away the distance he could see in front of him got smaller and smaller until he could make out details no further than arm's length, though he had a plan for that. " **Flash.** " He called out and his right hand lit up like a beacon.

A lot more could be made out and several pillars that supported the tunnel could be seen with several stalagmites in front of him that rose up from the ground, though their appearance was something that puzzled him because they were arranged in a zigzag pattern and deliberately blocking the path in front of him. "I'm glad that Flash is a normal type move." He muttered under his breath and began weaving through the tunnel.

Something else was on his mind too, because he had felt it as soon as he entered the cave. It a faint, distant ringing sensation but it felt like it was luring him to it. Rex closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on that feeling, and was overwhelmed by it. There was a flash and for a second, everything that was going on around him could be seen.

Rex visibly recoiled from that sensation. _Was that the Earth Plate? Or the Stone Plate? It felt like everything that was going on the ground was visible._ He thought in bewilderment, though the location was not hinted at all, it had to be somewhere in the cave.

"I could be stuck here for a long time and I can't be certain that any fighting will guarantee safety." Rex muttered under his breath and let out a small groan of frustration as he continued making his way through the stalagmites until a large one was directly in his way. It was too thick for him to squeeze past and had smaller spikes coming out of it.

"So much for being quiet." Rex groaned and stood back. The Focus Blast in his hand was more than enough to destroy it completely and the area around shook for a few seconds as normal. The light had hit a wall and revealed a sharp downwards incline and he jumped down it, sliding downwards and falling forwards.

"Ow…" Rex groaned as he got up and looked around before lighting up his hands with Flash again and looked around to see that he was in some sort of large round room with pillars around the outside of a stone circle that had some sort of pattern on it that was completely different to one uncovered in Clover Canyon. "What is this place?" He asked.

When he got to the centre the outside ring then flashed into life and a pair of Seals appeared. Trying to step outside the circle Rex was shocked and swore. "Naturally this was some sort of trap but why here?" He asked.

Two figures emerged from the pair of Seals and it didn't take a genius to know that they weren't human. They were twice as tall as Rex, approximately three metres and were made from primarily rock though they also had patches of earth as evidenced from the small branches around their arms and legs, though the body and head seemed to be completely free of this. They had thick hands and fingers that looked strong enough to crush him.

"I… don't suppose you're here to help?" Rex asked nervously and got his answer in the form of a fist flying towards him. "Guess not." He noted and dodged it by jumping on to the fist and then got back up. "I don't know who or what you are but you're not human. You are a monster, but me? I AM A MAN!" He shouted and then threw a powerful Mega Punch at the chest.

Unfortunately, the rock that was making up the assailants was harder than he thought, and he recoiled from the pain. "Owwwwww, son of a bitch that hurt!" Rex groaned and then retreated back from them. He hoped that nothing was happening to Zangoose right now.

* * *

 **With Zangoose**

Outside the cave, Zangoose had been patrolling the nearby for any signs of being watched. She was catching the distant scents of someone approaching them and went on all fours, hissing and jumping in front of Max, back arching up. The man looked down at her, slightly unnerved by this sudden change in behaviour compared to when they were in his home.

 _What sort of character does she have to suddenly flip a switch and go on full on hunter?_ Max thought, sweating nervously and taking a few steps back.

From the bushes emerged several young teenagers led by one with short brown and hair that was cut very short and was wearing a blue short sleeved jacket. Zangoose continued her warning growl and it made the group of four teenagers look at her apprehensively though they boldened upon seeing that their leader wasn't backing down and they all looked to be around 14/15.

"I didn't think that you'd be hiding the monsters of all people Max." The boy with brown hair stated bitterly and the tone made Zangoose perk up slightly, though she kept her guard up knowing that there was going to be a confrontation.

"Sorry kid but I'm not with him, I'm with my partner." Zangoose stated to their surprise.

"You can talk?" The boy asked, surprised for a moment but then scowled at Zangoose. "It doesn't matter what you say, a monster is a monster and you're going to pay for attacking and kidnapping those women – including my mother!"

"Roy, calm down. Zangoose is here to help and since I can't fight she's guarding me while her partner investigates what's going on." Max tried to explain and took a few steps backwards. He realised that they never intended to listen to reason and were going to attack anyway so he should leave to the Cat Ferret pokémon.

"One thing before we start. If you're going to attack me then make sure it's only me." Zangoose hissed as she got up on two feet. After looking them over she realised that they weren't much of a threat so she wouldn't need to fight with any of her proper moves.

The charge was sloppy and disorganised from them all and not only were they outmatched in skill but also in strength and speed as Zangoose was hitting them with the side of her claws to avoid seriously injuring them with her Crush Claw attack. She would deal with Roy last and then used Pursuit on one of them sending him sprawling firmly on the ground and then blocked a blow from another person with ease and then countered with an ordinary punch to the gut, making him keel over from the blow.

One of the two who actually bothered bringing something with him was proving to be incredibly clumsy with their 'chosen weapon' which was just a short knife and Zangoose blocked it with her claws. "You're joking right? A baby Sneasel could do better than you." Zangoose couldn't resist the urge to chuckle and shoved the knife out of her claws and back at them.

Two of them got back up and managed to hit Zangoose from behind with Roy attempting what looked like another attack but they didn't expect her to react as quickly as she did and turned around before punching the shortest one in the chest and then stared at the person in confusion. _Wait what?_ Zangoose frowned as she drew back the punch and the short one grunted.

"Hang on, that didn't feel right. Are you…?" Zangoose began asking and stopped. Despite that her senses still kept her on guard though she watched as they were getting back up and looking at the person she had just punched in the chest and began sniffing the air. "You're actually a girl?" She asked.

"What about it?" Was the annoyed reply. She had short blonde hair that was cut into a way that could make her pass off as a boy. "You gonna kidnap me too?"

"No. Why would I given that I'm just as tall as you are. Weren't the monsters were described bigger than most people? I'm actually shorter than Rex." Zangoose pointed out and the group of teenagers looked at each other in confusion.

Although they were still wary of this strange creature calling herself Zangoose they looked around at each other for a moment before slowly relaxing although their leader didn't lower his guard as easy. Roy wasn't still trusting him and looked over. "So what is she?"

"I'm Zangoose, I do have a name."

"Zangoose is here alongside her partner who is down there investigating like I said was before you started attacking her."

"Were you the one who sent out a job request then?" The female teenager asked.

Max shook his head. "No but I can take a guess as to who would."

* * *

 **Back with Rex**

After getting some distance Rex noticed that they weren't the fastest of… whatever they were and tried going back the way he came but was surprised to see that it was blocked by a wall of solid rock that felt just as hard as the material that made up the monsters who were attacking him. Despite not being too fast when moving the speed at which they attacked with their arms or their legs was impressive, not much slower than Magmortar.

" **Focus Blast!** " He called and fired a blue orb of energy directly towards the chest of one of them, though when the smoke cleared Rex saw that it was barely scratched at all and jumped out of the way to avoid being smacked around and was on the smooth section of the floor. "If those things can tank a Focus Blast then I guess I don't have much of a choice. Brute force it is!"

After blocking one of their fists with Protect Rex used the opportunity to use Work Up and his body was surrounded by a red aura as he powered himself up and switched into the Fist Plate and then dashed forward with his arms glowing with energy. Several Mach Punches found their mark on each of them and Rex noticed a few crack marks appearing on their bodies as he weaved in and out of them, fists still glowing with energy as he backed away and switched to the Zap Plate. His right fist, which was the failed attempt at using Mega Punch was still throbbing and the punches that he landed made a jolt of pain for each connected hit.

" **Electro Ball!** " Rex called out as two yellow sparking balls and fired one at each of them, shocking them for several seconds before the electricity dispersed. This was followed up with a Thunderbolt that briefly slowed down one of the rock monsters but he ceased the attack to avoid the other one. "You know, with the way you look and act you remind me of a pokémon from Unova but I can't put my finger on it."

One of the stalagmites from the part of the cave was broken off and thrown towards Rex who extended his hand and an orange blade of energy formed in it. " **Sacred Sword!** " The blade split the rock cleanly in half and it broke up into multiple pieces once it hit the floor.

" **Muddy Water!** " After switching from the Zap Plate to the Splash Plate a wave of brown water spread throughout the area, crashing into the two monsters and unbalancing them. A few moments later the water vanished, though the area was still damp.

 _There it is again. That faint ringing noise in the back of my mind, calling out to me. Now is really not the best of time to do so._ Rex thought.

Interrupting his thoughts was a fist that sent him sprawling across the area and crashing into a wall. All of the wind had been knocked out of his lungs and he struggled for breath and was only aware of the two of them making their way over here it was then that he remembered. "Yeah, you remind me of Golurk. Only more aggressive." He wheezed in-between breaths.

The sight of them bearing down on him made him look up and roll around to avoid another fast punch and Rex then switched to the Fist Plate – if they were rocks then fighting type moves would be the perfect way to counter them. Rex started off by dashing forwards with Quick Attack and then tripping both of them up with a Low Kick, the rock monsters falling into the ground one on top of the other.

Rex jumped up and placed a hand on each of their backs before saying, " **Force Palm.** " A flash of energy pulsed into the back and the ground around them shook briefly, they slowly got back up and turned to face him. As they began moving towards him, Rex noticed that they were slowing down and ran through the space between them, still using Quick Attack.

This was barely enough to avoid their reflexes though was up against the wall of the ring and spread out his arms in the same angle, running back at them for his next attack. What stopped him was a yellow Magic Seal appearing in front of the rock monsters and round palm sized balls of earth were fired at him, forcing him to jump backwards and switched to a Razor Shell to parry them though was hit several times.

"Since when could you use Magic?" He asked rhetorically and then charged forwards with Quick Attack, avoiding the projectiles and struck several more times with Razor Shell, cracking some of the bodies before jumping backwards and letting them hit each other. It was then that he felt the Plate call out to him again, which was the worst possible time for one of them to call out to him as was then punched from behind and was flung towards the wall.

"I think that one is going to hurt for a week." Rex groaned and hobbled back up. With the frequency that it was calling out to him it had to be nearby.

Turning his attention back to the rock creatures, he knew how he was going to defeat both of them but needed to find a way of lining them both up before he could attack and started racing towards them with Quick Attack. Once he was in the line of sight for the other one he shouted, "Over here!" and they lumbered slowly towards him.

 _Come on, move closer together so that you're in a line. Perfect._ Rex thought and moved to the right, where he was getting to within punching range of the one in front. He stood still and began gathering up energy for several seconds, a faint purple glow surrounding his body once it was complete. " **GIGA IMPACT!** " Rex shouted as he charged forwards surrounded by a powerful purple aura. On impact, the crack widened significantly and there was some resistance before the attack broke through the first monster completely and then rammed into the second one. Despite the resistance it put up it eventually gave in as well and broke through. Both of their bodies had been completely annihilated and lay scattered across the floor.

Getting up was a pain for Rex as his body felt exhausted just like when he had used Blast Burn and tensed up, expecting more of them to come an attack him. Several minutes passed however and it became clear that they weren't any more he let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness for that. Huh?" He looked at the circle in the centre in more detail.

"It looks like a more complex Magic Circle but what it's for?" Rex asked as he used Flash to light up the place and took in all of the detail that was present on the smooth floor. Moving back to the entrance he saw that it was open again, likely from having already defeated the pair of monsters. He launched himself up with Aqua Jet and began running back the way he had come, also ignoring the ache that was developing from the Giga Impact.

Back with Zangoose and Max most of the tension was gone although she noticed that the teenagers were looking at the older male with surprise and frustration. "Why is it that you can use Magic Max? You know that nobody in this town likes Magic."

Max sighed and sat down on a tree stump. "That's because I learnt a bit about it when I worked as a Rune Knight in Crocus, but I eventually decided to pursue my current job as an author because I simply wasn't cut out for it." He admitted.

"You used to be a Rune Knight? Why didn't you tell us?" Roy asked in disbelief and anger.

"What's his problem?" Zangoose asked carefully.

"Roy's mother was one of the first people to be taken and since then has gotten into this idea that he is the only one who can take the monsters on." The female member of the group said.

"Without Magic? Riley, that's crazy." A shocked Max replied.

"No it isn't! Those monsters aren't going to know what hit them when I show them my strength. Those Rune Knights are only cowards who sit around and do nothing, and that stupid blonde wizard!" Roy retorted with an angry stare, though Zangoose noticed that he was holding back tears.

Silence fell over the area as they were waiting for Zangoose's partner to return and less than half an hour later a battered Rex climbed out of the hole and lay down on the floor and began breathing in deeply. "Nothing is as good as fresh air!" He grinned in-between breaths.

"What happened?" Max asked, looking down at him in concern.

"Why are you injured like that?" Zangoose growled and then began sniffing his body, gently running a claw over some of the injuries and Rex winced several times. "Nevermind, I know that you've gotten yourself into a fight, but against what?"

Rex thought for a moment about telling everything that had happened down there but decided against it as he wanted to keep the location of the Plate a secret from everyone and he found the strength to get up. "Later, can we get back to your home to discuss things in private?" He asked and Max nodded silently.

Back at Max's home, everyone was listening to Rex as he described almost everything to them in detail. The only thing that had been left out is sensing another Plate and that would be saved for Zangoose when they were alone. There was a tray on the table that Rex was sitting at along with some cups and glasses filled with different drinks, and once he had finished Max put down his cup of tea and mused thoughtfully for several moments. After a look of recognition crossed his face he got up and then moved quickly into another room and then began sorting through a pile of books.

"Now that I think about it… I've heard of this kind of Magic before…" Max muttered and began flicking through the book. "This was the book that helped me learn Magic and I know... here." He pointed.

They looked at the description of the Magic that he was referring to in front of him. _Golem Magic is a kind of Magic that shares similarities with Celestial Spirit Magic as it requires Magic power to summon the aforementioned golem to fight alongside the wizard and they have some independent thought but the similarities end there. A golem is not fully independent like Celestial Spirits and each one must be instructed before they can start acting and can be made out of different materials if one knows how to do so and Magic is only required to summon them. The average golem is between three and four metres tall and has the strength of four to five regular wizards._

"No wonder that thing's attacks hurt me so badly, having the strength of several wizards would badly hurt any semi competent wizard." Rex noted and frowned for a moment as he remembered what they were made out of. He didn't say anything about it yet as he needed to do more looking around.

"So why was the place looking rather empty when I first entered the town?" Rex asked with a frown, as the sound of loud bells rang out through the area and looked through a window to see a tall white building with a blue roof.

"There was a meeting at the Church of Avatar today, it's been here for nearly seven years and most of the town regularly attend the place. It had been damaged in that earthquake five years ago and it's only recently that the Knights have finished repairing it." Max answered, the only movement he made was to interweave his fingers with each other and wasn't looking at anybody.

Basing it off the sound that he heard Rex guessed that the sermon or whatever was taking place had finished and the priest had dismissed the attendees. _I think I should take a look at this Church, though why doesn't Max go anymore?_

There was a snort of derision from Roy. "Fat lot of good that old geezer is going to do. I don't think those monsters are gonna care about some crappy building." He added, bitterly.

"Mind your language." Max chided, though not unkindly.

"Church of Avatar… might be worth a visit." Rex pondered, still staring at the church.

Roy gave him a look of disbelief before asking, "You're actually considering it?"

After finishing the cup of tea given to him, Rex stood up and turned to leave followed by Zangoose who moved over to him and felt his body shake as he took a step. This was the same feeling after using Blast Burn and Rex made a mental note to avoid using those sorts of moves repeatedly for now. "It's a place to start. You should probably go home, there is nothing else you can do."

"Not you as well! That's typical, adults ignoring the fact that I've lost a family member." Roy spat out in disgust.

That last sentence stopped Rex dead in his tracks and his grip on the doorknob tightened for several seconds before he turned back to face Roy and the other teenagers with a hard look on his face. "Oh really? That's typical, teenagers who don't know a thing crying about how nobody understands them." Rex replied coolly and then walked out of the house without saying a single word more and then set off in the direction of the Church, though once got outside the door let out a sigh, unable to remain angry at them.

Zangoose scowled at the teenagers, "Well that's always a good sign." She didn't say anything else and followed him out on all fours. Once she had caught up with Rex she was returned to her Great Ball without a single sound.

Something that Rex had noticed now was that the women, primarily those who he guessed to be from their late teens and up to their mid to late 30s and maybe a bit older, were all wither in a group with other people or they had a pair of Rune Knights guarding them. It was a good idea for the moment, though whether or not they could stand up to the Golems was a different matter entirely, he didn't even expect them to stand up to a golem or any similar pokémon from back home.

The Church of Avatar was a small, light grey L-shaped building that was made out of stone with the roof being made out of brick red coloured tiles and the building itself was nearly ten metres tall, though it lacked a spire. There was a sign above the main door that looked like a v with spikes on the end of the letter and a curve that goes through it as well. A few people were still walking out with families, leaving the inside to be mostly deserted.

Inside certainly had that church like feeling, with rows of open benches for all of the people that had cushion on them with typical patterns and lots of books that upon further inspection were the equivalent to a bible back home. Other things that felt similar to those back home were stained glass windows, an altar and a pulpit though there wasn't an organ that he could see in the area and there was a clearing that lead to what he assumed was the office where the priest would oversee the management.

It was nice and quiet, Rex was the only one present in the nave at the moment, so he took the time to walk around the place whilst he waited for someone to come and meet up with him and the sounds of footsteps made him turn to look at the person who had come in.

It was a man who appeared to be in his mid-50s with white hair that fell down to his shoulders, with dull grey eyes and some wrinkles were visible on his face which had a smile on it that didn't appear to go all the way. He wore a white and purple priest get up with a strip of fabric that draped over the shoulder with a gold trimming and the logo from the front of the church repeated in blue.

"It's rare that we get to see a new face around here. My name is Arlock, how can I help you my son?" Arlock asked in a humble tone.

Rex didn't mind being called that – it was a church after all, even though he didn't plan on going to this one anytime soon and walked over to sit down in front of Arlock. "Can we talk in an office? Doing so in here doesn't feel right." He requested.

"Of course, follow me." Arlock nodded and lead the way. The office was quiet and simple with a desk that Arlock sat down beneath and Rex sitting on the other seat in the small room, most of the noise was drowned out in the office. "Now tell me, why is a wizard here?"

Rex stood up straighter in his seat before asking a question of his own. "How did you-?"

A newspaper was on the table that showed a destroyed conference hall and Rex buried his face in his hands, earning him a chuckle from the priest. "Aside from this incident, the fact that you're a new face and the way you look practically says wizard. I'm surprised that a request got sent out at all given the anti-wizard sentiment held amongst the town." Arlock mused with a neutral look on his face and tapped his chin with a finger.

"It's not universal." Rex pointed out. He wasn't sure but there was something that felt off about the guy before him, looking into his eyes Rex could have sworn there was some sort of fire deep down within him.

Arlock didn't seem surprised with this and replied, "Well the only one who would do that is Max, but I haven't spoken to him recently." Seeing the young wizard raise his eyebrows made Arlock frown and then sigh after a moment of silence. "Max didn't tell you? That's not surprising."

"About what?" Rex asked, not sure where this was going.

"If you don't know by now, there was an unnatural earthquake about five years ago. Max had been a semi-regular attendant of this place until that day when his wife died, though no body was found. Since then he's been attending less and less to the point where he stopped a few years ago altogether and I've only visited him a couple of times afterwards." Arlock explained carefully and had a distant look on his face.

Hearing this made Rex react in a way the older man didn't expect, although there was a look of sympathy on the young man's face he didn't say anything that sympathised with him. Was there something worse that the wizard had experienced, or was there another reason for this apparent lack of reaction?

Thinking back to the discussion that Rex had had back at Max's house there was something that felt off about the former Knight before snapping back to reality and drew his attention to the purple book that lay on Arlock's desk. "What's that?"

Arlock picked up the book and then handed it over to him to allow Rex to read the title and then the contents page. Link to the Magical Past, and judging from the contents page it was one about magical legends and their history and the foreword stated that it included magical creatures, people and events of all kind. There was an entire section devoted to dragons and Dragon Slayer magic, a chapter at the start of the book that was devoted to someone called Will Neville though the reading of a single name made Rex stop and look on in surprise.

"What's wrong?" Arlock asked.

"There is a whole section dedicated to Zeref, but…" Rex began with a frown on his face.

"Indeed, but history is not always good, and we should never shy away from those periods." Arlock noted in a sage like tone. The smile on his face looked comforting but what wasn't picked up on was another reason for his smile. "Whilst the world condemns the Black Wizard Zeref, several historians have suggested a different reason for his actions." This snapped Rex out of his brief trance before he remembered back to what the Guild Masters had said about him more than a week ago.

 _"This is Lullaby's true form, a type of Magic known as Living Magic that was used by Zeref a long time ago." Goldmine explained, looking calmly at the abomination in front of them._

 _"Who's Zeref?" Gray asked._

 _"He was the most evil wizard known to have walked through Earth Land 400 years ago and was known as Black Wizard Zeref. It's amazing that one of his creations is still around today." Bob added._

"Others would disagree with that statement." Rex replied, staring right into Arlock's eyes and a tense moment seemed to follow and the priest felt himself sweating underneath Rex's gaze. The power the newspaper described was certainly there though it seemed to be understated when feeling it in person.

The sound of a door opening broke the tension and they all looked to see a woman who looked to be around her mid thirties walked in. She had hazel eyes and lilac hair that was tied back into a ponytail and was hung up so that it wouldn't fall past her shoulder and was wearing a simple yellow dress with a dark blue flower pattern on the sleeves. There was an aquamarine bead necklace that hung out in front of the dress and black shoes.

"Ah, Holly, perfect timing." Arlock stated, breaking eye contact and Rex turned around to look around at her.

Holly stared at their visitor for a few seconds. "Oh… I didn't expect a guest. My sincerest apologies Father Arlock."

"No, it's my fault for dropping in unexpectedly." Rex shook his head in disagreement and stood up but then stopped as an idea began to run through his head. Reasoning that since the Golems were targeting the women in the village there was only one option for him and it wasn't exactly the happiest sounding one and if it went wrong he would definitely be punished for it in some way.

"Actually… can I ask you something Arlock?" He asked.

Arlock looked up for a moment before answering, "Go ahead."

"I've found out that these Golems as they are called have been attacking and knocking out young women, is it okay if Holly helps me…" Rex trailed off, trying to find the best word to describe what he had in mind.

"Is that a good idea?" Holly asked nervously, looking towards Arlock for reassurance.

Arlock didn't say anything but perfectly understood what the wizard (or so he thought) was trying to get across for him and pretended to think about it for a moment. "I'll allow it young man, but remember that this place is her home and I don't want to hear anything serious happening to her, understand?" He asked with a slight hardness in his voice.

 _Okay, with the possible exception of Makarov I don't think there are going to be many old people who can unnerve me like that._ Rex thought nervously and then began walking out the door without saying a single word followed by Holly and remained silent until they exited the church before he spoke to her. "So, are you working with Arlock?" He asked.

"I… Arlock took me in nearly five years ago and I lived under his roof. Apparently, I took a nasty blow to the head and developed memory loss as a result. He's tried to help me get it back, but everything has failed so far." Holly explained in a neutral tone.

There wasn't anything else discussed, though as Rex was walking back to Max's house he couldn't help but sense that something was off about the way in which she had explained that to him. It was the tone of her voice, a moment of uncertainty though Rex couldn't deduce the reason why and let it drop for now. Once inside Rex had a quick look around and saw that the teenagers had gone, and that Max was just sitting at the table with a mug in his hands.

"Was the trip successful?" Max asked and then spotted Holly. "Oh, you work with Arlock? Why are you here?"

"I've got a plan to stop what's going on." Rex stated.

"It's not a complete plan, more like half a plan." Holly reminded him.

"Come on! It's still better than no plan at all!" Rex fired back in protest.

Once he was sure they weren't going to argue he coughed to get their attention and turned to face him. "So why are you here? I don't see how I could be of much help to you my magic is limited." Max asked.

"Arlock told me a bit more about you. Is there a suitable change of clothes we could find for Holly?" Rex asked.

An uncomfortable pause from Max followed for several seconds before he sighed and relented, and then went out of the room before coming back with a set of clothes that Holly then changed into using her own room. When she came back Holly was wearing a light blue shirt with a long red jacket that fell down below the waistline and a thin lilac coloured skirt. Surprisingly it was a perfect fit for Holly who turned around in the mirror to get a better look at herself.

"Do you think this should be a bit brighter?" She asked.

"I'm sure that this will be enough, being on your own should be enough to attract one of them." Rex replied and then picked up a Great Ball in his hands. Zangoose appeared in a flash of light and startled Holly whilst the pair of them were reviewing the plan that he had come up with.

"It's an impressive half plan." Zangoose remarked and Rex pretended to ignore that remark.

"Anyway, after a few hours the Rune Knights will spread out across the outskirt of the town as night falls and then we'll stakeout. I'm relying on your tracking skills, as a better sense of smell was not a part of my p- I mean Magic."

The next couple of hours felt slow as they waited for the sun to set and the night to take over, with Zangoose scraping her claws and ensuring that they were sharp enough to deal with the monsters. Once the sky had gone black the three of them walked out into the main area of the town with Holly splitting from the two of them as she began to walk around aimlessly. Rex activated the Sky Plate, carrying Zangoose up to the roof of a nearby building and switching back to his normal form and then got down onto his knees alongside the Cat Ferret pokémon and began waiting for a golem to turn up.

After Holly had walked down one street they waited for several minutes but nothing happened, so they moved over to the next street, this one was not as well lit as the one they had previously gone on, hoping for more like.

Another tense minute passed before Zangoose sniffed the air and then pointed. Down below Rex instantly recognised the shadow of a golem emerging from behind Holly and it wasn't making much noise, but with everyone except for the Rune Knights in their homes or trying to defend potential targets it could easily be heard. Holly turned her head around and froze for a moment before walking further away at a faster pace, she only managed to make it several steps before a yellow seal appeared and her body who wrapped up and trapped in a body cast made out of earth and struggled against it.

"Let me free!" She demanded, raising her voice as a signal and waited as the golem began making his way through the town towards the exit.

 _Wherever the golem came from must have been a one-way trip then._ Rex thought and then waited for Zangoose to lead the way and she jumped ahead across the roof in pursuit of the golem. There was also the matter of the Plate that he felt out there, though Rex had a hunch about where the golem was going to go. If he was correct then he would be one step closer to saving the town from these golems, and defeat the person responsible.

 **Next Chapter – Holy Terror**

* * *

 **This took a long time… uh yeah, I had a rough few months but I've been getting better and also been busy with other things. Thankfully I put that time to good use, I finalised the team for Rex and have created a rough outline over what I want to do with the story as well as some overarching plots that will be relevant. Plus I realised there is already a Max in FT, but ah well.**


	7. Holy Terror

**Recap:** Following their stint at the Council, Rex was introduced to two more of the S-Class wizards, Mystogan and Laxus. Despite not being sure of Mystogan, his first impression of Laxus couldn't be any worse and they got into a staredown with each other that Makarov called off. After learning about why the second floor was off limits Rex decided to take a job that involved defeating monsters in a place called Lilygreen Town. Having gotten himself into a fight with those and learning more about the town from Arlock, a priest, he came up with a plan that involved his assistant Holly.

* * *

 **Chapter 7 – Holy Terror**

Following the golem was easier than either of them had expected, mainly due to the fact that any accidental noise they were making went seemingly unnoticed by the golem. Remembering back to what Rex read about them it was most likely that this golem had different instructions to the ones that had attacked him in that cave – how they went about their task was up to them as long as it was accomplished it would seem. There were a few encounters with the Rune Knights and to the surprise of neither of them it ended with most of the Rune Knights either knocked out or one of their legs was attacked to stop them from pursuing it.

"I knew this was going to end well. There doesn't seem to be any life-threatening injuries, stay focused Zangoose." Rex noted in a hushed tone after leaping over another roof and nearly falling off of it.

Zangoose didn't reply and kept her focus on the scent of the golem, which was proving more difficult than expected as stones didn't have varying scents that could be distinguished and thus kept track of Holly instead, something that was a lot easier. Once they were outside of the town they got back on the ground and waited for the golem to get further away and avoid detection.

Pursuing the golem took them further outside the town and the path seemed oddly familiar to both of them. _Please tell me we're not going where I think we're going._ Rex thought but then as they got closer the golem turned to the left before disappearing through the use of Magic.

Approaching the area where they had disappeared Zangoose tried to find any scent of Holly but stood up on her hind legs and crossed her arms. "The scent ends here, sorry but it goes right into the ground and I can't just dig my through, with or without the move." She told him, growling under her breath.

"Maybe, but I think we should go back to the same place we were yesterday. I think that golem went back down to where I encountered them earlier on today." Rex guessed and then they both began running towards the area, the fissure that remained unchanged and lit up the area with Flash.

Looking around the entrance both of them saw something that they had missed. Whilst several of the trees had been uprooted and the area that lead downstairs still open there weren't any crack around the entrance or if there were, they had been sealed up. "Hmm, that is strange. Run a claw along this side and see if you can find anything."

Zangoose did so, walking around with a claw on the ground. "Am I supposed to find anything or are you trying to make fun of me?"

"Well if you did find anything it would indicate that the earth had been moved unnaturally right? It's either Magic or whatever Plate is down there." Rex pointed out and Zangoose fell silent.

They both entered the cave and Rex turned to the left like before… and then found a wall of dirt and rock. Rex bounced off and fell onto Zangoose and once he got back up put his hands on the wall and began moving across it as if to find some sort of hidden entrance. "I'm not crazy but this is the way I went earlier on, whoever sealed this passage did a terrible job of covering up their tracks." Rex explained.

"Considering that you can understand me, you're perfectly normal." Zangoose agreed with a smirk.

The trainer's mouth opened for a moment before it closed and then opened again as he replied, "Okay, that was actually kind of amusing. The only way we can go is right it would seem so focus and try to find Holly."

Whatever Zangoose said next was drowned out by the feeling of the Plate pulling at him again, but it felt different this time, a bit more distant than normal. A flash of the area around was transferred into his mind, a large open area that was built seemingly underground though the lack of windows made it difficult to tell and there was a line of torches lighting up the place. Once the image faded Rex saw that Zangoose was waving a claw in front of his face and he pushed it away gently.

"You're eyes glazed over for a second, was that the Plate?"

"Yeah… though this time I got an image rather than a feeling. We have to go this way so be prepared." Rex warned and set off down the only path that was available to them. He wasn't certain if this was a trap, if it was it was too complicated to be set specifically for him, and let Zangoose lead the way. With her superior senses she could smell any surprises for him.

Walking through the cavern was getting easier as his eyes adjusted to the dark, though Rex remembered Granite Cave having more room for anyone to look around and search for the pokémon in there. The direction of the path was changing slowly, going in an almost 360 degree turn before it seemed to almost go back on itself.

"Stop." Rex whispered suddenly and put his hand out, feeling a residue of energy from the walls. "The Plate was through here but something or someone has moved it."

They carried on walking and saw a distant orange light coming through after making another sharp turn and they shielded their eyes as the pair began running towards it and out into the space. When they entered Rex sharply inhaled and recognised it as the room the one he had seen some time ago and looked around, trying to find some sort of entrance.

Zangoose was studying the Magic Circle on the floor and was trying to work it out. The Circle took up most of the centre of the room with four smaller circles that were positioned so the large one cut through the middle of them like the points on a compass and formed a square if you connected the dots together. The inner circle was actually made up of writing that looked like an incantation that was repeated four times and there was an image of four different crystals inside a chest piece of some kind.

"No way out, but I think that it might have something to do with Magic if we should get out of here or find a trap door of some kind." Rex announced and then joined Zangoose over in the middle of a circle. "What's this?"

"At first glance, not a clue but I'd say it's a kind of… um… summoning circle and not one of the ones that a person can just cast outright. I guess that some things can't be summoned normally here." Zangoose explained.

Rex hummed for a moment, having no clue what would need a Magic Circle this large and complex. He remembered the Celestial Spirits that Lucy summoned though doubted that this was one of them and continued looking around the outside and hoped to find a different feeling brick that would either trigger a secret entrance or a separate circle that could be used like a portal. Activating the Zap Plate sent a few arcs of electricity along his arms, though what he wasn't expecting was for part of the circle in the centre to glow yellow and Zangoose jumped back on all fours and growled.

"...Now we're getting somewhere." Rex noted and then switched to the Splash Plate. This time the opposite section of the circle that lit up that was right next to him as he formed a Water Pulse in his hand and then let some sparks fly from his other hand and watched as half of the circle was now lit up in the same colour.

Next up was the Flame Plate, though there was a slight delay in switching that Rex missed out on as he created a small flame in his hands and the section that Zangoose was standing by lit up in response. After this he tried the Sky Plate and saw that there was no reaction to it. "Do you think that final element could be something related to earth?" Zangoose asked.

"Definitely." Rex thought and looked back at the entrance, an idea suddenly popping in his head. If that was the entrance and the only place they had gone through, then it stood to reason there had to have been some sort of trick there. Looking around the place he saw a brick that looked oddly pushed out, but the difference was so small you had to know it was there and pressed it.

A loud crash sounded as the doorway closed suddenly and Rex tried to attack it with Brick Break but nothing was happening. "Why on earth would you trap us in here? Are you trying to kill us?" Zangoose growled in awestruck.

"Hey, I didn't know that was going to happen!" Rex protested and they both began using the same move on where the empty space had been but after a few combined attempts it wasn't budging. Turning around he looked at the other walls and tried to think of a way out of this that didn't involve destroying everything in sight and saw part of the adjacent walls had moved back by a couple of feet.

Two Magic Seals appeared as a pair of the same golems he had fought earlier broke through. "Oh come on! I struggled against them earlier and only broke through thanks to the use of Giga Impact!" Rex groaned in frustration and got up, taking a battle stance alongside Zangoose and activated the Fist Plate.

Zangoose started off by slashing her claws out in the air and a ring of ethereal swords appeared for a second as her attack was now doubly what it had initially been at first and then charged forwards with an X-Scissor attack at the nearest one before backing off in time to avoid a swipe from above. "You weren't lying about their reactions." She observed.

"Less talking and more fighting. **Focus Blast!** " Rex called out and then fired a bright blue orb at the other one and an explosion rocked it for several seconds before it went right back up and began walking towards them but they closed the distance a few seconds faster than the other two that Rex fought back in the open space.

Using Muddy Water, a brown waved appeared and splashed the other two of them, focusing more on the golems than the circle, not recognising that some of the spillage had been absorbed but it and the whole thing was glowing a white light as it did so before fading away. He followed that up with a Low Sweep like last time to lower speed and then ran over to assist Zangoose.

She had recognised that these were faster as well but had a lot more trouble due to not knowing Low Kick as a move and thus resorted to trying to get around and attack from behind which was proving to be difficult. "Stay… still!" She growled and blocked a fist with Detect, but the force sent her flying into the wall and create a small crater in the bricks.

A Razor Shell made contact with the offending golem who turned to see Rex approaching it as he unleashed a flurry of golden stars that assaulted it from behind and gave Zangoose he opportunity to land a Crush Claw attack. "Heh, you may be independent but you're not smart." She noted with a smirk and then attack with X-Scissor again.

This gave Rex the opening to use Low Sweep and tripped the other golem up too before sensing danger from behind and jumped up, switching to the Sky Plate and expanding his wings and flying around the golem. " **Air Slash!** " He called out and let several blades of air that dissipated against the golem, doing little damage. It was certainly worth a shot.

Zangoose was using Crush Claw continuously, not using the lowered speed of her opponent but ducking in and out of every attempt to punch her and then she used the opening to attack again and saw the golem engulfed by a blue aura. Her usual smirk did not leave as she then used Brick Break on the crack, knocking the golem back a few steps and widening the crack. There was a moment where she felt something, and she ducked as Rex soared over her and put up a Detect in time as the second golem threw a fist but this time she planted her feet firmly and was only pushed back instead of being thrown into a wall.

"Use it again! **Discharge!** " Rex called out as bolts of electricity spread out of him wildly in multiple directions and struck everywhere near him and that included his partner Zangoose. The protection move held up this time though she was certain that it wasn't going to hold if she used it three times in a row.

The electricity spread out everywhere like a web and onto the floor and several bolts spread over the large circle in the centre which were absorbed into it like the water, but that had been once again unnoticed by the two of them.

Once the move broke off Zangoose then jumped back at the one she had assaulted and then raked the same spot with another Crush Claw though got it stuck for a few seconds, leaving her at the mercy of the golem who picked her up and threw her into Rex. The pair rolled across the floor a few times before getting back up.

"There's something underneath all of that, I don't know what it was, but it wasn't rock." Zangoose added and pointed at the large cracks on the one she had engaged.

"Break through it then." Rex ordered simply and they both turned back to face their respective opponents again.

Rex was the first one to attack, deciding to simply attack the golem over and over until Zangoose was done and switched to the Fist Plate. He started out with another Focus Blast attack before continuing the assault by creating a Sacred Sword and lopping off one of the arms and it fell to the floor with a loud thunk. The golem paused as it did so and then used its right arm to pick the other one up and reattach it with next to no signs of damage.

"Well, that just happened." Rex stated in disbelief.

Despite this he pressed on with the assault and was pressing the golem back into a corner with the Sacred Sword he had created, instead choosing to aim and make piercing movements at the chest. If Zangoose had felt something in the chest of the one she was currently fighting, then it stood to reason that this one also had something hidden within the chest.

Although opening the chest area completely was a simple idea, Zangoose found it to be more of a problem due to the golem being more aggressive now that the chest area was falling apart. Whatever the reason for it was the offensive presence had increased a lot and she had to be more careful in her fights.

Using an X-Scissor attack she blocked one punch and then dived under the arm before unleashing another Brick Break and further split apart the chest, exposing a small sliver of something that she hadn't seen before. "What _is_ that?" She asked in a whispered tone.

This distraction allowed the golem to smack her right in the chest and she fell on the floor, keeling over in pain. "Great going… idiot…" She muttered to herself.

Seeing this made Rex turn away in blur and run a glowing fist into the exposed chest area declaring, "That's one hit too many!" and then following this up by diving forwards and lopping off the left arm, blocking the right with a Protect and then wagging his finger in the air and using Assist. A blue translucent orb formed in Rex's left hand as he fired an Ice Beam at the stony hand that was connected to the floor, freezing it in place.

"Now let's see what's inside you." Rex stated before placing both of his palms on the chest and a flash of energy lit up and exploded all over and completely opened it up.

Inside was a metal frame the size of an average head and there were two parts of it that were wired into the golem in a way that was the magical equivalent of a plug and Rex vaguely remembered the SE plug the vehicle Erza used to pursue Eisenwald. What drew his attention were the contents of the frame, a round blue stone of some kind that was giving off an ethereal glow – no doubt it was the same in the other one.

A low rumble shook the area and Rex immediately backed off in case something was going to happen – what he was wasn't expecting was for a red seal to appear in front of the golem with the open chest and then for it to attack with several orbs of fire. Now using the Splash Plate he shot them down with Water Gun and they exploded, sending out embers in random directions.

"It definitely was this easy." Zangoose said sarcastically.

"Alright, alright, I get it." Rex acknowledged and then paused before asking, "Were you always like this back home?"

Zangoose nodded and smirked as she got on all fours before facing the golems. The one the two of them ended up focusing on had managed to break free and reattach the arm that it had lost, though unlike the other one it took a few seconds longer due to the exposed chest. "Do you think if we removed that stone the thing will shut down?" She asked.

"Maybe, but the _Lacrima_ …" Rex emphasized that last word, "…could also be the source of the magic. Remember that the book stated that the only similarities with Celestial Spirit Magic was the summoning. Once we get the Lacrima out shattering the body completely seems to destroy them."

Zangoose growled at that, realising that aside from possibly Brick Break none of her attacking moves were exactly ones that could easily destroy whoever was in her way. "If you really wanted to destroy one of them Magmortar is a much better solution." She suggested.

The look she got in return was one of disbelief. "Are you kidding? Aside from the enclosed space he would burn everything around him…" Rex replied, his hands shaking at the thought.

Zangoose decided to shut up at that point and then was the first one to charge forwards at the other golem, solely using Brick Break whilst aiming for the body area in general. A second later Rex engaged the other one and ultimately decided upon using the Flame Plate but in a controlled manner and avoid area attacks. His fists were the fist ones to be set on fire as he then attacked the shoulder with Fire Punch and ignored the slight ache coming from the same fist that tried to use Mega Punch and failed to do much. Zangoose had a quick glance and thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, though she turned her attention back to the other golem.

Stream of fire were drawn towards his mouth and they formed several balls of fire that were yellow and red with a white core. It was similar but different to the ones that the golems had used earlier and spread out to attack both of them, avoiding Zangoose at the same time.

The golem in front of him shuddered for several moments as the fireballs hit the exposed lacrima inside of it before using the same attacks as before and Rex stood there in place, enduring the hits. "If that supposed to be fire? Even Natsu would be embarrassed!" He taunted and then changed to the Splash Plate as a Water Pulse formed in one of his hands. When the golem tried to use them again he fired it and the orb splashed out in all directions, including on the device that was inside the chest.

A flash of sparks came from the chest before they started spewing and the golem began shaking erratically before going crazy and spraying fireballs everywhere, including on the other one. "Get back, this one is going haywire!" Rex warned and Zangoose ran to the other side of the room, which was far enough for her and he changed into the Zap Plate.

The sparks were flying wildly from the open chested golem and electricity surrounded his arms as he plunged them at the two sockets and wrenched the frame holding the lacrima right out of the golem and a blast of magic energy threw him backwards several feet and after a few seconds most of the sparking magic had died down.

"The other one!" Rex called out urgently and Zangoose made to attack but the golem disappeared. "…I should have used Mean Look, I forgot that was a normal type move."

"Considering that one of your own pokémon uses it, how could you forget?" Zangoose remarked in mock surprise.

Ignoring this remark Rex continued to get a better look at the lacrima encased in the frame and managed to unseal the top of it and take out the lacrima. Despite the ethereal glow, Rex detected a faint warm aura emitting from the lacrima as he held it in his hands and then blinked for a moment. _It's still glowing the same colour as it was when they attacked with fire, so why the reaction?_

There was a tapping on his shoulder and he turned to see Zangoose. "Finally, you might wanna look back at the magic circle." She pointed out.

In the centre he looked and saw that complex series of circles were glowing the same blue as the lacrima. Recalling the pair of Golem he had fought on his own earlier Rex remembered that those one had fired rocks using Magic earlier. "I'd say that the final element is most likely earth if it isn't air."

Drawing the lacrima nearer the circle got a reaction as a line shot into it and it began radiating energy that intensified the glow of the circle, both of them took several steps back and by the time it faded the lacrima had lost its blue glow. One quarter of the glowing circle had changed colour and was now a fiery orange.

"So this thing absorbs those elements as well? Why?" Zangoose asked.

Looking back at the centre of the circle Rex placed a hand on the four crystal carvings on the circle. "A larger scale version of the chest piece that I pulled out, though perhaps it is something more." Rex assessed and then looked up as if he had heard something and returned Zangoose to her Great Ball without warning and then hid himself once again by using Camouflage.

A magic doorway had opened and revealed that Arlock was coming in, Rex wasn't the least bit surprised by this development due to the odd vibe that he had given off in the church and watched as the elderly priest moved over to the lacrima and then the empty frame on the floor and picked it up to get a closer look. Arlock was carrying a staff on his right hand that didn't look right, it had an eye at the top inside a web of some kind and was made of a strange black looking wood with barbs in it.

"Did you do this on purpose? We're almost ready there was no need to speed it up expectantly, right?" Arlock guessed out loud, unaware of the person also in the room and took a closer look at the empty frame. The priest realised that it wasn't the person who he had thought at first and ten looked around, clenching the staff tighter. "Escape shouldn't have been possible, how did that infernal wizard do it?" He then muttered in anger.

Rex took this time to sneak through behind Arlock's back by using the Sky Plate and minimising the sound of his breathing and then began making his way into another corridor but this time finding the stairs and deciding to go downwards. What he saw next made him wish he hadn't.

There was a row of cells lit up only by candle torches and in each of them was one of the missing women that he had been told about, most of whom were unconscious. Of the few who were conscious he could spot Holly, now released from her hold but her hands were cuffed together and he uncloaked himself before getting to her bars. She started but once she saw who it was calmed down. "How long have you been there?"

"…about two hours at most." She answered, though the tone of the reply was subdued, almost disbelief.

"Er, you okay?" Rex asked, confused.

"I just… how could Arlock do this?" Holly asked, her voice cracking up slightly. "He helped me and…"

There was a moment of silence before Rex said, "Yeah well, you're gonna have to believe it. Don't get too distraught over it. Is there anyone else here you recognise?" He asked and she nodded but didn't say anything else – not that he could exactly blame her but there was the matter of the mission.

Looking further around the area he counted about at least a dozen other women who had been captured and saw some of them being unconscious and saw that a couple of them were Rune Knights – he figured their magical talents would make them a natural target. Sending out Zangoose, the sound of the Great Ball opening was something that echoed through the pathway which alerted the conscious members and they all turned to face him. Their eyes were glazed over and looked at him apprehensively, so he tried to reassure them by saying, "I'm going to set you free, don't worry."

"But we have more work to do here right?" Zangoose guessed.

Going over to one of the conscious women he looked at the lock and used Focus Energy before slashing it open and destroying the lock in one swift motion and took note of the fact thst she backed up slightly and her brown hair. Rex raised his arms as a gesture of good will before communicating with her "It's okay, I'm here to help. What was Arlock doing?"

The person in the cell was breathing heavily and looked to be fatigued. "He… was draining our Magic. We didn't practise it… but he was extracting… magic potential…" She replied slowly and panted.

"How does that work?" Rex asked thought the silence made it clear that she didn't know, and he shook his head. "Hang in a bit more, okay? Arlock is up to something else and not in this alone."

Zangoose was sniffing the air around the person in the cell and recognised a similar scent before asking a question, "Do you have a son named Roy?" and got a reaction of recognition from her though answering Rex's question made her too tired to answer it. She looked back up and nodded at Rex who considered it for the moment but shook his head.

"Given how they have been drained of their Magic potential the only one we can rescue without supporting is Holly. Sorry about this but we're going to have to come back for you later." Rex apologised, and she slowly nodded.

They went back to cell where Holly had been and he Slashed the door open and then through her cuffs and she got up, though there was a stiff feeling in her legs and she moved around the cell to get rid of the numbness. "So where are we going?" Holly asked quietly.

"The staircase I followed made it go back upwards, and it goes even further. So what happened to you?" Rex asked.

* * *

 **Earlier**

 _After being trapped in a body cast of earth, Holly was watching the ground rising up even though it was the golem sinking in magically and she took a breath and waited for the ground to come up and choke her, but the sensation never came, and she instead watched as there was an earth bubble over her head and she began breathing normally. She realised that if she was being kidnapped then her kidnapper wouldn't let her die though it still didn't relieve her sense of personal space and still felt her body squirm despite this._

 _There was no way of telling how much time passed as she moved through the earth but when she was finally back out in an open space that wasn't lit and felt her body open up as the earth was removed from . Holly was then promptly blindfolded and then felt the handcuffs go on her as she was guided and then moved into somewhere and based on the noises made which included a door opening and the key closing a lock – it didn't take a genius to realise that she was likely in a holding cell of some sort._

" _Please take off this blindfold." She requested though nothing seemed to happen for a few minutes. Holly wriggled around nervously until a hand was placed over her blindfold and it was pulled back to reveal something that she wasn't expecting it to be Arlock of all people who was standing above her with a peaceful look on his face._

" _What? WHAT?!" Holly cried out in shock and disbelief. "This… has to be a trick. There is no way that you're the same-"_

" _Priest who took you in and helped you when you had nowhere to go? Unfortunately for you, this is not some kind of trick my child. I am the real Arlock." The reply was dismissive, almost callous and the tone of it threw Holly for a loop and she stared at him in silence. Arlock was almost amused by this reaction and he chuckled for a moment._

"… _Is this all your doing?" Holly asked._

" _Does it matter which I answer I give you? I'm not sure you would believe me either way, though the thought of toying with you was one that I relished." Arlock replied with a grin that did not resemble the friendly grin of Arlock the priest but one of a fanatic._

 _There was a moment of silence from Holly who was desperately looking at Arlock for something that resembled remorse, and saw nothing. "What about the golems? Are they your doing?"_

 _Arlock turned away to consider things for a moment before facing her again with the smile gone from his face as he replied, "Truthfully? It is not my Magic, but I won't let any harm come to you. I'll make sure that you're not affected."_

" _Not affected? What does that mean?" Holly asked desperately._

" _I suppose I could tell you a bit. With the others my… partner has been using a Magic item to drain the natural ethernano from their body and then store it in lacrima. Over time the ethernano in the air restores magic of wizards but also helps fight magical related disorders such as magic deficiency disease." Arlock explained._

" _Do the others suffer from that?" Holly asked._

" _No, the magic has to be drained at an extreme rate for that to set in."_

" _Then why are they still here?" She demanded._

 _There wasn't an answer this time as Arlock got out and locked the cell door, taking the key off of the chain and then turning and exiting the room to goodness knows where. All of the time that he had gone made Holly sit down and bring her arms and legs close together, something still felt off about what he had said. As there was no sign of Rex in the area the only thing she could do was remain silent and try to keep calm about the situation, though she felt her nails digging into her skin._

* * *

Once that was over Rex stopped and looked at her in a moment of silence and wondered why Arlock would spare her from her Magic being drained and also why the girls were still being kept in the cells. Rex pushed those question to the back of his mind and they began going up the stairs towards the next level and entered the room.

This was a completely different place as it was a much larger space than the other area he had entered and in centre of the room was a stand in the middle that was radiating energy and guarded by two golems that didn't react to them at first. The light then intensified before dying down to reveal a lacrima crystal that was slightly larger than the previous ones he had seen, and the golem took it off.

"Don't harm our intruder, we've got the final lacrima. Begone." Arlock commanded as he moved into view of them, his outfit changing to a black robe with a golden sash round the neck that had the symbol of the Church of Avatar imprinted multiple times across it in black. The staff that he was wielding had changed slightly and the web had an eye in it that was now opened and three points that made it like a trident. In response to this command a Magic Seal appeared underneath them and they disappeared.

"I thought that you weren't practicing that magic." Rex accused.

"And I still standby this statement, I do not use Golem Magic." Arlock replied calmly.

"Yet you still intend on making one of them – I saw that large magic circle." Rex noted and then fired a Thunderbolt.

Arlock didn't say anything but tapped his staff on the ground once and a crystal blue barrier appeared in front of him and the electric attack was unable to break through though a mark was made where it had struck and cracked the barrier.

"Interesting, so you were the one who used those attacks. Fire, water, lightning but nothing to do with the earth." Arlock mused once the attack had subsided and chuckled at the surprised look on Rex's face. "I could tell that someone had been feeding the circle but not who it was."

"What's the deal with taking the elements? If you need it so badly then why don't you practise those kinds of magic?" Rex demanded.

Arlock shook his head for a moment and then tapped his cane on the ground before adopting a scowl on his face and Rex spread his legs out slightly ready for the next move the priest would make and anticipating a fight. "That is as much information as you get. Unfortunately for you Rex, you know too much."

 _Only me?_ Rex thought in slight confusion.

This next instruction was more of a command. "Our Lord is angered by the heathen, and demands that this place be cleansed of heresy." Arlock stated and tapped his staff on the ground three times, pausing for a couple of seconds in between each tap.

"How charming. Stand back while I kick his ass… are you okay?" Rex asked as he turned to Holly.

There was a moment when nothing happened until Holly turned to face Rex with her demeanour having changed drastically and a weapon appeared inside of her hand, and slashed across the chest with magic. Holly was wielding a silver coloured rapier with a small lacrima embedded inside the base of the blade and then continued attacking wordlessly whilst Rex quickly formed a Scared Sword to block it.

"The hell did you do Arlock?!" Rex demanded, keeping his distance.

A fanatical grin appeared on his face again and Arlock turned to leave. "Make sure he doesn't leave the place alive." He commanded.

"Understood." Holly replied in a monotone voice that made Rex uncomfortable. "All who oppose the Lord shall be eliminated."

"Don't do this Holly, fight it!" Rex commanded and blocked the blade with the sword and they struggled against each other for a moment before he overpowered and threw him across the area. Holly got up and Rex took a note of the aggressive look on her face as she ran forwards and lashed out again with her sword only to meet a green shield that blocked the attack and took a few steps back whilst it was still in the air.

 _Is this a type of magic or did Arlock do something else?_ Rex thought and tried to reach out again. "Arlock is your enemy as well!"

"Anyone who opposes Arlock is my enemy!" Holly retorted.

 _I can't sense any magic influence on her, so it has to be something else._ Rex deduced and then dashed forwards with Quick Attack before using Storm Throw and throwing her in a circular fashion, landing a critical hit on her and watched as she got up seemingly without much damage done to her.

Using a quick attack this time he made to dodge her and she moved fast enough to catch up with him and used the blunt end to deliver a blow to the stomach that made him stop and then thrusted several times at the stomach whilst in this speed battle, nicking Rex several times at the end. Their speed battle continued as Rex ran backwards with the attempt to try and put some distance between them but Holly was matching his speed with ease.

" **Discharge!** " Rex shouted as he released a wave of electricity all over the place, being too close to the centre of the attack made it impossible for Holly to dodge and there was a pang of guilt as he watched her being shocked, not wanting to hurt her too badly. Grabbing hold of her body he used Vital Throw and threw her back across the room to get some more distance.

Grunting, she got back up and assessed him for a second before pointing her rapier out in front and then fired a white blast of energy by channelling magic from the lacrima. Shifting into the Sky Plate the increased space gave him more room to manoeuvre around he dived at the sight of another white blast and then made to attack with Aerial Ace. Holly slashed at the wings and Rex then moved upwards and struck from above.

 _I have to knock her out and quickly. The ideal way is to put her to sleep._ Rex thought in annoyance and decided to change his approach before firing off a Thunder Wave.

A crescent wave of energy broke through the weak bolt of lightning and was getting faster as it got closer to Rex, who then replied with a single strong Air Slash that match it completely. Another wave of energy was fired and that was broken with another blade of wind and then that broke up into multiple smaller waves and this time Rex flapped his wings and began firing a group of spinning disks at them. Several explosions broke the air as the two attacks collided and a spinning Rex charged through with a Drill Peck and charged down low at her.

In turn, Holly jumped over and then plunged the rapier down on his body and going right through one of the wing and pain shot up through the wing and made him stop the attack and flinch as he was pinned to the floor. "Get. Off." Rex spat and then a powerful wind began spreading outwards and tore upwards.

Despite her persistence the wind managed to pick her up and lift her and the rapier off, though Rex forced himself to switch to the Fist Plate and felt the pain quickly receding from the point of entry, though there was still a sore feeling in his right shoulder. "I also now know how a pierced wing hurts, this is not a good feeling."

"…" Holly didn't make a sound and waited for him to get up.

Placing a gentle hand on his right shoulder Rex rubbed it and then looked back at Holly before turning his gaze to the centre area where the stand was and felt his sense go into overdrive. The Plate was just right there – somehow within the stand itself and Rex didn't want to figure out what goes where.

A grunt told him that the fighting was resuming, and they traded more blows, sword to rapier. A few basic swings started the second round and then Holly tried to go low but was blocked and was slowly being pushed back upwards. The rapier shone brightly, forcing Rex to redirect the blast upwards and the blast creating a large crack in the ceiling.

Rex paled at the prospect of the place caving in and then tried to get the weapon off of her and then picked her up and then used Body Slam to pin her to the ground and then yellow spark began flashing all over his body.

"What… happened…" Holly tried to get up but was finding it difficult to move and the speed at which she was able to catch up with Rex had been greatly reduced.

"Not so fast, now are you? Good." Rex noted before going to the centre and trying to see where the Plate was, his body emitting a light brown glow in response. Placing both of his hands underneath the stand he used Strength and his body glowed red as he wrenched the whole thing off of its base and revealed that the thing was partially in the ground.

Wasting no time, he placed a hand on it and then an energy rushed through his whole body and shaking the area around him. There was a dusty brown glow that enveloped his body. Once it died down it revealed that Rex's skin had darkened slightly, and his hair was like before he was sent to Fiore, and was wearing a red bandana around his neck. He was wearing a short beige cape over a brown sleeveless jacket that feature a diagonal crimson slash and a pair of black fingerless gloves appeared on his hands. The jacket also Rex wore a pair of black trousers that has brown trails with a yellow trim attached to it and a pair of brick coloured boots.

"Certainly not the first thing I expected this form to look like." Rex commented.

The room began shaking, with the centre where the stand had been shaking the most and then a piece of the ceiling began falling down. "Naturally." Rex groaned and then a wave of energy crashed into him. Having unlocked another Plate though made this last strike feel weaker than earlier.

"I will ensure that you do not leave this room alive!" Holly continued and then fired several more waves at him.

Placing his fists together Rex spread them apart and a light green bone shaped staff appeared and deflected the waves of energy without much effort. Several more pieces of the ceiling fell and Rex avoided them by jumping forwards and then threw it like a spear at her, creating another one as she dodged the first Bone Rush.

"Priorities Holly! This place is gonna collapse!" Rex pointed out, but she still continued attacking despite the chaos around them. The sense of caving in was getting to him and he started freezing up on the spot, allowing for Holly to strike him several times as he told her, "No… please stop…"

A rumble echoed through the area and a chunk of rock hit him on the head. Rex snapped out of his funk and then tackled Holly to the ground despite her protests and took her weapon off of her as the ceiling caved in and knocked her out on the head with a swift blow. He started using Dig to create a pathway to the nearby stairs and moved down to the next floor and sort of crashed out onto the floor below.

"Ugh…" Rex groaned as he got up. After getting a bearing of where the pair of them were, he picked up the unconscious Holly and moved her over so that she was lying on her back, and she wasn't injured too badly.

Moving back down to the bottom floor he couldn't hear anything coming from any of the cells and upon digging his feet further in the ground and using the Earth Plate to sense everything around him there was further confirmation. They had all been moved. _But where to?_ Rex thought.

The sound of Holly stirring made Rex put up his guard and she looked around before asking him a question. "Wait, how did I end up here? What happened?" She asked.

"You attacked me Holly after Arlock said some sort of trigger phrase. Our battle was brief and I was forced to knock you out."

"Oh… wait a second. Why was I with Arlock?" Holly asked in confusion and thought deeply for a moment and tried to remember some more. "That's strange, why was I living with him for five years?"

There was a moment of silence from Rex who just stared at her and began thinking more about the stuff that he had heard about the town and some of the people involved. "Since you've regained your memory, could you please tell me what you remember?" He asked.

Elsewhere, Arlock had taken another route through the tunnels and came out in a large open cave several miles outside the town and then lit up several torches to illuminate the area. There was additional light coming from some lacrima but in the area that he was standing in there was none of that sort.

"You can come out now, everything is ready for it to begin." Arlock stated and the shadow of the figure stepped into the light.

"This had better be the last experiment that you force me to perform Arlock. I don't like the methods you're using." The figure replied, the light revealing that it was Max Tucker, with a pale look on his face.

Arlock smacked his staff into the ground once. "If everything goes to plan then there will be no need for this. For now, follow my orders and nothing bad will happen." He demanded sharply and Max flinched at the tone of his voice.

"Yes sir." Max muttered under his breath.

A more complex version of the metal frame that Rex had inspected appeared in the light as well and it was placed on an altar. Four lacrima was embedded in the spherical frame and that was protected by glass infused with a special kind of lacrima Max and Arlock stood on opposite side before reciting a chant several times, each time getting louder until a massive seal with four points began appearing in the air and began gently shaking the area from the amount of Magic that was being channelled from the air.

The intensity of the shaking increased to the point that it could be felt in Lilygreen Town, waking up a number of residents and forcing the Rune Knights into action. "Another earthquake? Just what is going on?" one of them asked.

"Never mind that, we have to go and wake up anyone who is still asleep! Form small groups of 3-4." their leader ordered and they began going into action.

Although Talen had woken up and rubbed his eyes it took his father slightly longer to wake up and required nudging to wake up. "Mmm… pass the wine honey… and mix it with the cheese." Albus groaned and then woke up properly.

"Now is not the time. We need to get out now!" Talen said in a raised voice. Albus didn't argue and the two of them ran down out the house and secured a few of the heavier objects in the workshop as a group of Rune Knights passed through, knocking on any doors that remained shut.

As they were being escorted Talen leaned down and began whispering his father's ear. "It's been a while since we heard from the Fairy Tail wizard? Where do you think he is?" He asked nervously.

"Hopefully he's at the source of the rumbling, stopping whoever's responsible." Albus replied in an equally concerned tone.

A bright light shone from the seal and the large metal frame began lifting itself into the air and surrounding rocks then drew themselves towards the metal frame and shaping itself, breaking off and reforming to fit the design that the pair of them had planned. There was also some activity coming from the frame as the lacrima was glowing in response to the influx of magic and they both watched as the rock began forming a golem that was made out of a combination of rocks and wires that extended out from the frame and into the various limbs. Several red crystals also were drawn to the face to form eyes and also embedded themselves into the main body.

"What's going on here?" A voice called out and they paused to both see that Rex had managed to find the other tunnel and was staring at the large glowing golem that was forming. "Max? What are _you_ doing here?"

Nothing was heard from Max who looked away in shame and Arlock let out a chuckle. "He is my partner, young man."

Several things clicked at once and Rex dashed forwards with Mach Punch with the intent to stop whatever was going on and hit a barrier created by Arlock. "You were the one who kidnapped the members of the town, those golems were yours. Why?" Rex demanded and only got more silence.

Turning back to Max, Arlock got his attention by tapping his staff. "Now go back to the casting of this spell. We won't have any problems. **Dyson Wall.** " Arlock called and several more barriers appeared to form a hexagon like structure that blocked his way. Looking up Rex saw that there wasn't enough room for him to fly.

"You think those barriers will stop me?" Rex smirked before using Feint to break one of the sections and another one appeared in place of the broken section immediately afterwards. "What?"

"Aside from blocking your attack the Dyson Wall will reform any broken segments. Attempting to break through is impossible." Arlock stated with a fanatical grin and they returned back to the casting of the spell.

Despite this Rex tested the barrier several more times and each time the relevant section was reconstructed without a scratch, at the very least Arlock was thorough with ensuring that the barrier couldn't be broken. When the two wizards went back to casting the spell the area began shaking in response to the casting of the spell and it intensified for a while before stopping completely, having dislodged a few stalactites from the ceiling. One of them crashed into the shield and split up into multiple pieces.

Across the room in front of them was a gigantic golem that Rex reckoned was around 6 metres tall at the minimum with a face that looked uncanny to say the least with the two red crystal eyes and a mouth for lack of a better term that was also made out of the same crystal. The whole body was mostly made out of rock but also seemed to be meshed with some wires and metal to increase the durability and four arms, two on each side. The whole body shape of the golem in front of them was different compared to the others in a way.

After struggling for a bit, Rex realised that the word for this new golem was that it was more human like. _That thing, aside from the four arms is seriously uncanny._ Rex thought nervously.

Turning his attention back to the barrier he used Focus Energy to get himself worked up and then ran to the wall before launching himself off with Drill Run and completely shattering the barrier in front of him and stopping just in front of the two wizards. "What on earth is that Arlock?!"

There was a laugh that came from the priest and it was revealed that Max was nearly unconscious from the effort put into the spell. "This is the Super Golem, a far more powerful version of the normal golem that can be summoned with Golem Magic though it requires more magic power to summon." Arlock explained.

"That's what _you_ wanted." Rex noted and didn't smile.

Arlock looked up in confusion and pretended to not know what was going on. "Hm? Do you know something that I don't?" He asked.

"Continue to play the fool, but I know what you're up to." Rex stated.

Silence followed the priest as he moved over to Max and he helped the person up. "You're part is not done yet, Max. Give the orders." Arlock demanded without any sign of budging.

"Don't do it!" Rex called out in desperation.

Looking between the two, or more accurately between the back of Arlock and the look of desperation on Rex's face and felt himself struggle but then remembered the stuff that Arlock had told him and then muttered something under his breath and the eyes and mouth glowed up like it was awakened.

"Destroy the town and anyone who tries to interfere. Including this wizard here." Max instructed and the eyes blinked several times in response. That part seemed to have used up the rest of what Magic power he had left and faltered onto the floor.

The Super Golem whirred to life and looked around to get a bearing of his surroundings and got a good look at the wizards who were in the room before spotting Rex and taking a moment to observe him and then the eyes flashed red.

"Well, this is gonna end well." Rex commented as his eyes began growing wide in comprehension.

"Super Golem, attack!" Arlock shouted.

It took a couple of seconds for the golem to close the distance and Rex had already jumped up to dodge its incoming strikes and used the Sky Plate to avoid it. "Seeing as this place has much more room, Magmortar standby for battle!" Rex called out as he threw an ordinary Poké Ball and a wvae of heat filled the air surrounding the rered and yellow pokémon.

"…oh wow, that thing is huge." Magmortar noted before grinning. "Even so, you're nowhere near as strong as I am. You're just a bigger target for me to hit!" He boasted before unleashing a Fire Blast at the legs of the golem though it walked right through and swatted the flaming pokémon aside with its left arms. Magmortar immediately got back up though and then expanded his right cannon and unleashed a Heat Wave that spread out and burn a significant chunk of the left half of its body.

"Don't forget about me!" Rex added as he attacked from the other side with a Drill Run though found that he could not penetrate the outside armour. He retreated quickly and then fired off several Air Slashes which spread out and hit the golem, but it looked like it had little effect.

"This thing is tough, any ideas?" Rex asked as he dived down next to Magmortar.

"Not a clue. Maybe we should just break through because we're both that strong." Magmortar suggested.

"Don't forget that we should also capture Max and Arlock seeing as they were also responsible. I'll capture them." Rex noted and saw that Arlock was missing, he pulled out a Great Ball and sent out Zangoose.

Once the white light dissipated she looked at the large golem in front of her and her eyes widened. "This is insane! We're going to fight that thing? I've had enough with those stupid golems." Zangoose complained.

"Yeah well the only other option for the golem that doesn't complicate is him but..." Rex trailed off and the three of them shivered.

"Well you heard him, let's go Zangoose! I'll provide covering fire whilst you go for the legs." Magmortar declared as Rex dashed off in pursuit of Arlock and then opened his cannon which began sparking and fired a Thunderbolt that hit one of the wires and shocked a part of an arm. Several more followed though the damage they did seemed to be negligible.

At the same time Zangoose dashed through the initial assault and began aiming for the legs with Brick Break, though found that the strikes were making her fists sore and instead began slashing at the legs with Crush Claw, and one of them got stuck in the golem. "What a surprise. It's not like this has happened before." Zangoose remarked.

"You shouldn't recklessly go in like that you know." Magmortar said out loud, bracing himself as several punches hit him. None of them activated Flame Body unfortunately but he managed to endure them and then attacked with Fire Blast, though looking at the hands he saw that the arms were heated up slightly and glowing red.

Zangoose spied that whilst still trying to get her claw out. "This golem is going to use Magic!" She warned.

Magmortar didn't say anything but watched as two fireballs appeared in between a pair of enclosed hands and they fired at him. As they exploded the golem saw that Magmortar was unaffected and interpreted the look this strange fire creature gave as one of mockery and hostility. "Come on, is that the best you can do?"

The Super Golem stopped moving as it took a few moments to analyse Magmortar before doing the same as before, but this time was made out of water and fired them towards Magmortar. "You forgot my Thunderbolt." He noted and then blasted the orbs using both of his cannons, they lit up and exploded into steak.

"Oh right, I can also dual fire." Magmortar noted, pretending to be surprised.

Zangoose broke free and then used X-Scissor to strike one of the legs, and luck was on her side as a critical hit was scored. This made the golem look down and attempt a two-handed swipe at Zangoose who blocked the attack with Detect and was moved by the force. "Done yet?" She grunted.

Another pause as the golem took a moment to consider what had just happened and made gun like shapes with all four of its hand before palm sized bolts of lightning began firing out of them. Zangoose began running on all four, weaving in and out and trying to get underneath the golem but it was moving back and jumped into the air, doing a flip and then firing again. These one managed to strike her and she growled in annoyance.

"I've seen some large pokémon do impressive manoeuvres, but this has to be one of the most incredible things I've seen a gigantic monster of any kind do." Magmortar noted and held back a grimacing thought. _Except for one._

Noting the growing shadow, Magmortar began running urgently and felt the shockwave from the landing throw him off. Getting back up he turned and unleashed a Heat Wave at the golem from one cannon and deciding to shock the fire with a Thunderbolt from the other cannon. The result was the electricity spreading out across the edge and creating a net like effect that both burned and shocked at the same time.

"Didn't see that coming." Zangoose observed as she got up and stood next to Magmortar. "You might wanna try that again in the future." They turned back to the opponent in front of them, and Magmortar opened up his cannon, ready to unleash his full firepower and Zangoose unsheathed her claws.

After splitting up Rex didn't look back at the pair, confident in their respective abilities and focused on catching up with Arlock. _As soon as I run into him it's going to be payback time._ Rex thought and began upping his pace to catch up with Arlock, and was grateful that there weren't anywhere with multiple pathways.

It took a while for him to catch up with Arlock and ran right into a barrier. "I told you that a barrier like that cannot stop me!" Rex pointed and broke through using Brick Break.

 _Just one attack broke through?_ Arlock thought in surprise and then looked at him.

"So why do you want the town eliminated? Considering you're working with Max I don't understand what you get from this."

Arlock's face was unreadable and Rex could see the debate before that not so friendly grin appeared on his face as he began to speak. "In its most advanced state it is believed that a golem can be practically human, completely independent and self-aware. Max believes that he can model one after his dead wife."

"Believes?"

Arlock tapped his staff on the ground and two barriers rose up in between both of them before stating, "Such a thing is impossible due to the vast amount of magic energy needed to power and program the thing, so I let him continue with his fantasy." His grin still persisted, and they felt rumbling in the distance back from where the Super Golem was.

"Why build that golem then?"

"A means to an end, young man. I will raze the village to the ground as a sacrifice to Zeref." Arlock declared.

The mention of that name pushed Rex back into a fighting stance and then charged forwards once more with Drill Run, he crashed through the barriers and into another one. A smaller one broke through some of the natural crystal that has formed inside of the rocks around them, and they began sparking out of control. "What's that?" Rex asked in concern.

"Lacrima ore, until it's refined and unstable. This used to be a mine until they ran out and decided to abandon it and was once used as a source of income for the town." Arlock smirked and began making his leave right as the lacrima exploded.

This caused the lacrima ore in the surrounding area to spark wildly and explode in less than a minute, starting a chain reaction as other parts began sparking and blowing up. Realising that his pokémon were still in there, Rex looked at Arlock with a scowl on his face before dashing off to get them out.

Hearing the sounds of the explosions echoing through the mine both Magmortar and Zangoose stopped their attack and began looking around, Zangoose panting slightly from having taken a blow to the chest and Magmortar was fighting the Super Golem. Electricity and fire were shot from the cannons in intervals.

Magmortar stopped to look in direction of the rumbling noise. "What did you do this time Rex?"

"Why do you think it's him?" Zangoose asked.

Magmortar turned his attention to the orb of water that was coming his way and his eyes burned blue. The orb stopped mid-air and split into four smaller orbs that were redirected back to the golem by Magmortar without touching anything and were surrounded by a light blue outline. "Because only he could do something like that." He answered Zangoose's question

A few sparks raced their way and they appeared to follow a path of some kind, the two pokémon shared a look of confusion and it began to dawn on them that he might not be responsible. Several loud explosions made Zangoose cover her ears as part of the ceiling blew up and a few larger stalactites began falling down from the ceiling.

Not a moment too soon Rex ran into their view. "We need to get out of here the place is collapsing!" He shouted.

"Considering what's going on around us I would not have guessed." Zangoose remarked.

"Did you do this?" Magmortar asked, speaking at the same time. One of the stalactites was getting near them and Magmortar held it up in place before throwing it to the side and it crashed through one of the supporting structures for the cave.

"Don't speed things up!" Rex shouted indignantly before lowering his voice and felt the ground shaking from all the explosions, picking up Max and carrying him over his shoulder. "Watch out!"

This warning was about the golem who started to pursue them and was catching up with alarming speed. " **Spikes!** " Rex called out and then threw a layer of spikes down on the floor from his free hand behind the three of them and the golem jumped onto them, reacting in pain and them slamming his hands all on the ground to generate a local shockwave that tripped Zangoose up and Rex caught her, switching into the Sky Plate and flying.

A part of the ceiling collapsed and rock, dirt, leaves, and a few trees all fell through and crashed into the floor space behind them, narrowly missing Rex who yelped in surprise before turning back to face the golem. Any small plant life was burned the moment it fell on Magmortar.

"A layer of Spikes wasn't enough… **Mud Bomb!** " Rex shouted and fired a sphere of mud that exploded upon making contact with the golem. Another piece of the ceiling fell down and Rex made the decision to return both of his pokémon to their respective Poké Balls and then bolted using Quick Attack as the cave collapsed in on itself.

The exit was boarded up and covered by a large boulder. Without saying a word Rex charged on through with Dig and watched as a significant part of the area beside the entrance had caved in, leaving a very conspicuous hole. "Yep, I'm a member of Fairy Tail alright." He groaned as he looked back at the scene behind him, throwing the unconscious Max onto the floor beside him.

Sending them out again Zangoose and Magmortar looked at the scene behind him. "That golem is buried underneath all of that?" Magmortar asked.

"Yeah, so that's that taken care of." Rex stated with a grin.

"Isn't it early for celebration?" Zangoose asked.

There was a look of confusion on Rex's face before he remembered Arlock and Max. "Crap you're right. I gotta get Arlock and tell them what's going on. I told Holly what to do before we split up, if it succeeds then this job is finished." He explained and got up.

"So what do we do now?" Magmortar asked.

Rex stood up and thought about it for a moment before replying, "Take Max and make sure he is safe, but don't go into the town until I give you the signal. Zangoose and I are going back to the town to assist Holly." Turning to face Max, he didn't say anything for a few moments – looking at him in a mixture of sympathy and disgust. Rex yawned and guessed that it was around midnight as the moon, which was shaped like a crescent was right above them.

"We can sleep later, let's go." He decided and shifted into the Sky Plate, wings spread out.

Magmortar nodded and lifted Max with Psychic who was still unconscious and his body was twitching slightly, indicating that he was close to waking upwards and then began walking down a path towards the village.

Zangoose jumped up on Rex's back and they took off, also flying back towards Lilygreen at a faster rate than the others and got there within a matter of minutes and saw the commotion that was going on down there. "What the-?" Zangoose called out in confusion and Rex dove down suddenly, making her grip his body tighter.

During the explosions and chaos caused by the fight with the Super Golem underground the Rune Knights and residents of the town had all been gathering around the head of the Rune Knights and there was an angry crowd forming and they began asking a series of questions or shouting a statement. "What's going on?" "First earthquakes then explosions, you're supposed to be doing something!" "Do something!"

Their leader called out over the voice of the crowd. "Silence! We've sent a pair of Rune Knights to investigate the disruptions!" He called out, trying to

"It had to have been from the abandoned mines! Only an explosion from there could be so loud and powerful enough to be felt here." One of the older residents shouted, waving a walking cane in the air.

"Who is that up there?" Someone else pointed out and everyone turned to see a single figure at first coming in fast from the air and when they came into view Albus and Talen recognised Rex after he transformed back into his normal form and Zangoose dismounted.

"Who are you?" The Rune Knight asked.

"Rex Vermend of Fairy Tail, I was hired to stop what was going on." He introduced himself formally.

"I don't recall anyone sending out a job request at any of the Guilds." The Rune Knight noted.

Zangoose unsheathed her claws and hissed, "Are you calling him a liar?"

This made some of the surrounding townsfolk nervous and they murmured uncertainly, and Roy hung in the background next to a man that was presumably his father, recognising the wizard but not saying a thing as he was worried about what would happen. The crowd was also eyeing him suspiciously and one of them asked, "Are you responsible for what's happened?"

"No I'm not, it was a stronger version of the monsters who had kidnapped the women. That was what caused the cave to collapse." Rex explained and then a faint rumble could be heard in the distance.

A shadow jumped into the air and seemed to clear a lot of ground as it came down and then jumped again, getting closer for everyone including the Rune Knights to see, especially with the fact that it's upper body cleared the trees with ease. "That thing was created by someone else who was working alongside you precious priest Arlock." Rex explained.

"Holy crap that thing can jump!" Zangoose cried out in shock at the same time.

From the forest, Magmortar also caught wind of the Super Golem jumping past and above him and stopped to stare at it in surprise. "Amazing." He muttered under his breath and very nearly dropped Max back onto the floor.

The brown haired man groaned woke up and looked around to see that he was in some kind of hold and thrashed in the air upon seeing who was holding him and found himself unable to break free. The initial sense of panic died down when he realised that this must be another one of those creatures that Rex had. "What's going on?"

"Your golem is going out of control and another thing. Arlock never intended to help you." Magmortar explained, keeping his eye on max the whole time and in an oddly calm tone.

"What?! That's not true!" Max retorted.

"Except that it is and we have got to fight that thing now thanks to you." Magmortar countered and he was now running back to the town and hope that they could hold out long enough to catch up with Rex and Zangoose.

"Brace for impact Zangoose. **Fake Out!** " Rex shouted and then intercepted the Super Golem mid-air with a smack across the face, flinching it and it ceased whatever attack it used and fell to the ground near the town, trampling a few trees in the process. " **Hyper Voice!** " Taking a deep breath he unleashed waves of continuous energy at the golem.

Zangoose sprung off and climbed up onto a roof and then jumped way over to attack the golem with a Brick Break to the face and Rex followed that up with a Low Kick and tripped the golem backwards onto the trees and they all fell down. The weight of the Super Golem meant that the power of Low Kick was at its maximum.

Both of them used Crush Claw next at the same time and a couple of crack began appearing in the rocks, though unlike the previous time it would still be a while before a breakthrough would occur. Rex then opened up his mouth and unleashed a powerful Screech attack that still affected the Super Golem despite the seeming lack of ears.

An arm picked Rex up and then threw him into one of the houses. _So much for no destruction._ Rex thought and got back up by switching to the Sky Plate and flying into the air and diving down with Aerial Ace and striking part of the rock.

"What _is_ that?" One of the Rune Knights asked.

"A Super Golem. It can use different kinds of Magic, get them out of here!" Rex ordered and when the Rune Knights failed to move he glared at him in a way that would be reminiscent of Erza and the Knights scrambled to do as he said.

Albus broke away from the crowd to approach Rex. "You sure that you can take this thing on?"

"As a member of Fairy Tail I know I can take that thing on. When we make a promise we mean it, and I promise to destroy that monster!" Rex declared and then water spiralled around his hands to create a set of four pointed stars and fired the Water Shuriken right at the golem, all of them hitting the body. Seeing that he has it covered, Albus and Talen left to follow the retreating Rune Knights.

After scoring an X-Scissor, Zangoose retreated but was struck from behind and got a face full of dirt. "Not so fast, you got me as well!" Rex shouted and then an egg formed in his hand and he lobbed it at the golem but an orb of water was fired at the bomb and the two attack clashed.

A second Egg Bomb followed and scored a hit but then a barrage of earth bullets were fired at Rex who took to the skies and he had to fly high before coming back down and weaving in and out to avoid being struck. The pain in the right wing was faint but still noticeable and Rex was hit a few times, include a couple of bullets to that wing.

"Ah!" Rex cried out and was knocked off course, spiralling and crashing into a building.

Zangoose climbed up the house and blocked a punch with Detect, slipping under the arm and then jumping on to the chest and using Crush Claw to tear the rock. Trying to break through a large layer of solid rock was proving to be difficult for her, and she nearly got her claw stuck again. The golem attempted to punch her again and she reacted in time, the fist driving itself into its own body and throwing the golem off balance.

"How about some assistance? **Low Kick!** " Rex shouted and then tripped up the golem again before jumping down on the chest with a double Force Palm and watched as a few cracks spread out from the centre of the chest. The golem got up and caught Rex in two of his hands and began attempting to crush him. "Some help, please!" He called out to Zangoose.

"I'm working on it, give me a minute!" Zangoose retorted and ten ran on all fours as an orb made of earth crashed through the spot where she was and into a house.

"Not… good. **Strength!** " Rex managed to speak up and slowly break free and then move a hand away before falling and was hanging by his legs, where he used Brick Break repeatedly on the other hand.

As his attention was on the other right arm, this allowed the golem to take another free swing that was blocked by a wall of fire that hit it in the back and force the hand to open, dropping Rex and he crashed into the ground.

"Don't you know to always watch you back?" Magmortar noted as he appeared, and Max was on the ground and no longer being levitated. Seeing the golem and the destruction that it caused made him look around and see the destruction that had already been dealt by his creation – several houses had been partially or completely totalled.

"…" Max tried to speak but the words couldn't come to him.

"I suppose the three of us have to deal with this, though I could really do all this on my own if I didn't see you struggle." Magmortar noted in an almost casual tone.

 _This beast, how can it talk about something that can use four elements at the same time with such a cavalier attitude?_ Max though in awestruck as he tried to stand up but was forced to sit back down.

"Get out of here and turn yourself in to the Rune Knights, we're putting the Super Golem to rest!" Rex stated and both Magmortar and Zangoose got up and stood beside Rex with a grin plastered on the face of the short white pokémon.

"The cage is it's weakness. Once we get that out of the Super Golem it's all over. I've already used a Screech attack so Zangoose can hammer away with physical attacks, Magmortar will provide covering fire for the two of us."

Turning to face him Magmortar asked, "How do you plan on doing that?"

"Well since I have the Earth Plate, I can use Earthquake. But I'm, not just going to use it near the Super Golem – it's going to be used _on_ the golem." Rex explained.

"Something about that plan seems crazy but I can't figure out what." Zangoose noted.

Rex grumbled something unintelligible under his breath and then turned back to face the Super Golem and then changed into the Zap Plate before starting to attack alongside and began weaving in and out of various bullet of magic made of earth, fire, lightning and water. Zangoose was dashing forwards beside him, the pair of them matching each other's pace and speed as they began tearing at the feet of the Super Golem and dealing damage.

" **Thunder Punch!** " Rex shouted as he attacked the left leg.

" **Brick Break!** " Zangoose added as she landed a blow on the right leg at the same time.

They got out of the way of the arms that were closing on them and watched as an orb formed in each of the four hands and then were fired at them, but it split apart into four smaller orbs and exploded upon impact and Zangoose got caught up in several of the blasts. "Ow, I wish that I actually had a resistance to have some types." She complained.

A lightning fast fist then punched her hard enough to draw up some blood and knocked her out right on the spot, and her body went front first through a building and she collapsed unconscious. "Magmortar! Take care of Zangoose!" Rex called out before focusing back on the Super Golem and then used a Sonic Boom attack to jump up high into the air.

" **Zing Zap!** " He called out and then charged down surrounded by an electric shell, smacking the golem in the chest and making it flinch.

It stood there completely still for a moment and it gave Rex the opening he used and placed both of his hands before unleashing an Earthquake right on the Super Golem. A brief moment of silence was broken by the Golem shaking violently and moving all over the place, crashing into several houses along the way and it's body was slowly breaking down as the cracks spread out rapidly across the chest and it's arms were unable to aim and use any of the Lacrima. Two of the arms fell off, though due to the intense shockwaves that it was experiencing they were unable to re attach themselves.

Max watched the scene unfold in amazement and saw the Super Golem jerk from the force of the move that Rex had used. _One attack was able to tear through it's body that easily? Just how strong is this guy to make the Super Golem look like it was made of dirt?_ He thought and was sitting up next to a wall

Magmortar walked back and gently levitated Zangoose back down on the ground. The red and white pokémon was still unconscious but from the looks of things it didn't appear to be serious and thus gladly jumped right back into the fight. "Whatever you're going to do net make it quick!" He shouted and used Fire Blast to break the other arms off.

Upon seeing them trying to reform back onto the golem Magmortar held them in place with Psychic. There was no doubt that this was the signal that was being given and Rex began using Chip Away repeatedly to gradually break up the rock and expose the frame inside.

"Hurry up! This is gonna be tougher than I thought!" Magmortar grunted as he felt the arms pulling against his Psychic hold.

Rex nodded before grinning at the weakened Super Golem and began chargin up an attack in one of his fists. "There was something that I said to one of your cousins or however they are related to you earlier, you are a monster but me? **I AM A MAN!** " A fist was glowing with energy as he unleashed a Dynamic Punch that made the screen crack audibly and visibly from the force.

There was a sharp intake of breath coming from Max. "That glass is reinforced with a density increasing lacrima. How can this be happening?" he asked.

Magmortar heard that and grinned before replying, "This is why you shouldn't underestimate him, underneath all those jokes and bluster lies the mind of a fighter."

"I still have to punch away at this? Not a problem. **Sacred Sword.** " Rex stated.

An orange beam appeared in both of his hands and they shaped themselce like a sword and Rex plunged them into the frame, piercing right through it. The golem made a screeching sound of some sort and the chest area exploded, unleashing a few months' worth of Magic energy all at once with the force blowing him back into a nearby and forming a crater that was several feet wide and deep, the blast lighting up a brilliant blue in the night sky.

Magmortar shielded himself and Max upon seeing both of the swords being held up high and realising there would likely be an explosion if Rex broke through the frame and then took cover behind one of the walls of the still standing buildings and braced themselves for the explosion. A rumble filled the air and he waited for the sound to die down before coming out and seeing the crater that was left there. "Something tells me this is coming out of your payment."

"Oh shut up… beside I feel just dandy!" Rex cheered, having relaxed and then slumped forward from exhaustion.

 **Next Time – Natsu and the Dragon Egg**

* * *

 **Ending it here because it's 3 in the morning and I just want to come to a stop and will start off the next chapter by clearing a couple of things up before getting to the title. I had a dozen other potential candidates for members of Rex's team before I finalised them.**


	8. Natsu and the Dragon Egg

**Recap:** Implementing the plan, Rex and Zangoose followed Holly and the golem and found out that Arlock was responsible for the kidnappings. They found Holly and tried to find out what was going on only for Arlock to say something that triggered Holly into attacking Rex. The fight stopped after Rex found the Earth Plate and the room collapsed in on itself and pursued Arlock who forced Max to create a Super Golem and then left, leaving it to kill the village and Rex who fought it alongside Zangoose and Magmortar. After a battle that took them back to the village Rex was able to defeat the Super Golem though Zangoose was knocked out in the process.

* * *

 **Chapter 8 – Natsu and the Dragon Egg**

When Rex woke up it was already light and he had been laid down on a makeshift bed and groaned as he looked around and came to his senses, guessing that it was getting close to midday and saw Zangoose lying down and still unconscious after the events of last night. "Is anyone else here?" Rex asked as he stood up.

It wasn't such a good idea as he stumbled for a moment and then yawned loudly, almost feeling like he needed another nap and fought off the urge to sleep. Placing a hand on the main body of the Zangoose he said, " **Wish.** " And a yellow light pulsated onto his body.

The sound of hammering mad him jump back to attention and he took down the stairs to see that he was back at the workplace of Albus and Talen and that the young thin boy was busy working away at something. "You're awake. How are you feeling?" Talen asked.

"Much better now that your hammering woke me up. Where's your dad?" Rex replied.

"The mayor summoned him to the hall. I think word got to him that dad hired you and their talking to each other." Talen explained.

"So what else happened?" Rex asked.

Outside the town a small camp had been set up for those who were unfortunate enough to lose their house as a result of the fight the previous night, and also one of the tents was used to keep an arrested Max captive and under the guard of a pair of Rune Knights. Through interrogation of him they found out everything about the Super Golem and the way in which Arlock was involved, and there was some disbelief from the people who were unaware of the fact. Although news of Arlock's involvement shocked many, it took the corroboration of Holly to convince the more sceptical of the townsfolk that he was responsible for everything.

Another thing that happened during the morning was that Holly had exited the Church along with the women that Arlock had kidnapped and the Rune Knights quickly made sure that they were supported and got several doctors who began looking over everyone who had been kidnapped. Thankfully, there were no serious injuries and at worst was suffering from exhaustion or drained from having a low concentration of ethernano in their body.

When he arrived at the camp two of the guards pointed spears at them and he threw up his hands to show that he meant no harm. "I'm the guy who saved this town, can't I get a break? Besides, when I heard about this place I wanted to make sure that Holly and the others were alright." Rex explained.

They didn't trust him enough to lower their spears until their leader intervened. "Let him pass." The spears were dropped and Rex let out a breath that he had managed to keep in and was escorted to the former follower of Arlock.

"It's you, it feels so strange for everything to be peaceful again. Once I help the others escape they were questioning me about my involvement, though they have decided not to arrest me." Holly noted with a smile, though her tone was slightly pained.

"Yeah, well it's glad to see that you made it out of the Church with the others. So what's going to happen to it?" Rex asked.

The smile dropped from her face. "I'm not sure what's going to happen to that place at the moment. Most likely it'll be taken down." She admitted and felt a few small tears coming down her cheeks.

Knowing what those tears meant, Rex looked back outside the tent that they were in. "You're gonna have to do it right now, otherwise you're never going to get another chance." He told her and after looking it over for a few moments she got up and then nodded at him. They walked over to the tent that Max was being kept in access was granted and they saw that he was sitting down with a pair of Anti-Magic Handcuffs attached to him.

"Max." Rex greeted calmly. The aforementioned wizard then looked up between the two of them without saying a word in response. "You've met Holly before, but you seem to have forgotten who she really is."

"What does that mean?" Max asked confusion.

Holly looked shocked for a second before putting a hand into her pocket and drawing out a plain gold ring with a small round shaped ruby in it and Max stared at it for a moment in confusion, his brain ticking away until it reached a memory that was long forgotten. "But that's the same ring – no, you just have the same ring." Max denied.

Holly didn't know how to react to that before saying in a raised tone, "It's me Max, your _wife_."

This had an instantaneous effect on him and he looked up in shock. "No… no, you can't be her! She's dead!" Max denied.

 _Five years ago, Max was busy at his home and plotting out the next part of his chapter and found that he had hit a roadblock. Whilst making a cup of a tea there was a loud sharp BANG! that echoed throughout the air followed by the ground shaking violently. Furniture, cushions and everything that wasn't nailed down began vibrating and shaking violently, plates and other empty cups began rattling and a couple of them fell on the ground, smashing audibly._

" _What's going on?" Max wondered in horror and quickly darted under the table to avoid anything falling down on him and minimised the space that his body was taking and waited for it. Approximately thirty seconds had passed before it seemed to settle down and then another one, slightly less intense, occurred a moment after._

 _Once he was certain there weren't any more immediate earthquakes he slowly moved out of the table and then looked outside at the house to get a better focus on the damage done to the house. A few cracks in the walls and a number of tiles had fallen off the roof though it wasn't in serious danger of collapsing._

 _The neighbour next to him had also ran out of his home and started looking around. "What just happened?" They asked._

" _An earthquake, but isn't sort of thing rare?" Max wondered._

" _It should be." The neighbour replied._

 _Reacting swiftly, a squad of Rune Knights arrived several hours later to join the local group that was already there and began pairing up to assess the damage and find anyone potentially trapped by the rubble. Most of the town gathered outside the largest open area, meeting the rest of the squad and their leader._

" _What caused that?" "Are there any casualties?"_

" _Now hold on, this earthquake affected a large area of central Fiore, we're trying to assess the damage done across at least a dozen towns and villages, but there has also been damage done to the roads as well and we even have a few unconfirmed reports of landslides." The speaker explained. Max looked on in fear, realising that his wife was out on the road to visit a friend she hadn't seen in a few years and prayed silently for her safety._

 _Those fears were proven a week later when one of the Rune Knights used magic to teleport him to one of the landslide sites and what he saw broke his heart. The carriage was half buried under a pile of dirt and looked as if it had been smashed in. "The driver is certainly dead and we couldn't find Holly, though we did retrieve some of her torn clothing. In the unlikely event that she did manage to survive her injuries…" The Knight informed him, showing some of the torn clothing_

 _Max just stared at the sight in defeat and was remembering the last thing she had said before she entered the carriage._ Don't worry about me, I'm going to be just fine. _The sentence echoed throughout his mind and Max sank to his knees in despair and let out an anguished "NO!" to nobody and ignored the consoling hand that the Knight placed on his shoulder._

 _Sometime later, he was sitting in his house but without Holly it didn't feel right, and he felt himself putting off the writing more and more often and started going to the local church less and less. One day, Arlock came in unannounced, much to the confusion of Max. "I've noticed you've stopped going to the church, Max. Tell me more about it." Arlock asked as he sat down, smiling serenely._

"No… no no no. You're not her, I refuse to believe that!" Max shouted out loud.

"I'll let you catch up." Rex stated before going out of the tent and then started going back to check up on Zangoose.

Before he exited the camp though, the leader of the Rune Knights stopped him. "Despite several houses being destroyed and a crater that we've boarded over for now, thank you for stopping this." He stated.

At the mention of the houses destroyed Rex groaned slightly, knowing that the council were going to find out about this and it wouldn't surprise him if he was forced to write an apology about it. Despite not saying anything in return he nodded and then began running back to the shop to find that Zangoose was up and moving about, going at a walking pace and wincing every couple of steps.

"Is there anything inside that feels unusual?" Rex asked, immediately giving his attention to the small white pokémon.

"I've felt worse, just a little delicate on the inside. That golem hit really hard." Zangoose commented and gently placed a claw on the stomach. The tone of her voice tipped him off that there was something else wrong ad Rex didn't reply, silently telling her to keep talking. "Now that you've can understand us, I've been wanting to ask you something."

This confused Rex. "What's that?"

"What did you look for when you captured me?"

That question greatly confused Rex. "I… don't quite understand the question."

"When you caught me years ago in Hoenn Route 114, what was it about me that convinced you capture me?" Zangoose clarified, looking right at him and not paying attention to anything else.

Rex thought for a moment before giving his answer. "In your case… I'd say your fighting spirit. With the state you were in, I was impressed with the fight you put up." He answered.

The door opened and a not so happy Albus came in and was grumbling something underneath his breath and closed it rather snappily. It wasn't until he sat down that he stopped grumbling and nearly swore but managed to hold it back in. "That was not fun." Albus sighed before answering a question that didn't need to be asked. "The mayor had a lovely time ranting at me about the property and took me along with his assistant a couple of hours to get him to calm down and then convince that it wasn't you. Though that was achieved he ordered me to dock your pay for the damages."

"Are you?" Rex asked, silently admitting that not doing so would be a surprise.

"No, of course not. You'll get the payment in full and I'll make up something about reducing the rewards to 240,000 Jewel." Albus replied with a grin and then began making his way upstairs to look for the money.

"If you get found out, you're both going to be in trouble." Rex noted, uncertain if this was the right thing to do.

Talen smiled at this and shook his head. "We'll make up something. Besides, the one who sends out the request has the final say on payment, isn't that how a guild request operates?" That line of logic was not wrong, and Rex wordlessly conceded with a shrug.

A few moments later Albus came back with rolls of money, double checking that it was the right amount before handing over several rolls and Rex stuffed it in his pocket. "You should quickly go now; the mayor will likely come here and demand to see you." Albus advised and Rex nodded as he returned Zangoose to her Great Ball and made a run for it. The pace matched that of the one Sceptile set without any speed boosts and found himself on the edge of town in minutes.

By the time the sun had set he was already close to Hargeon having maintained his current speed and stopped once he was in the outskirt of the city, putting a hand against the nearest wall. Whilst running long distances was second nature to him back in Hoenn this was the first time he had done so at such a speed. Not really caring about the price he went to the nearest inn and practically fell on the bed and went right to sleep.

* * *

 **The next day**

The sound of a large ship docking at Hargeon Port woke Rex up and he stumbled out of bed, taking the opportunity to tidy up his hair and return it to normal. Looking outside the design of it, the ship was undoubtedly a pirate ship with a creepy looking flag.

"What in the world?" Rex wondered and then moved to get a closer and saw that a group of wizards that looked familiar and spotted the red headed one as Erza, alongside Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Happy. Only Lucy appeared to be pleased with herself and Erza was talking with the captain about something.

"Rex?" Lucy asked and the other members, except Erza turned to face him.

The captain bid her farewell before leaving and waving at the group as they departed, and the S-Class wizard then turned to address Rex. "I take it that your job was successful." She stated, it wasn't a question.

Something about the way she said that felt off as the comment also seemed to be directed at the group as they began sweating profusely. "Yeah, but what on earth happened while I was gone?" He asked, taking a few steps backwards in case she got angry.

"These idiots thought it would be a good idea to sneak off and do an S-Class request, even though they aren't qualified yet." Erza explained abruptly as they started walking towards the train station.

"Hey! Natsu sucker punched me and dragged me along, besides-!" Gray began protesting and was cut off by Erza who glared sharply at him, and Natsu was being carried by Lucy in his classic motion sick phase.

 _Wow… I'd never imagine Natsu to be this stupid._ Rex thought, looking at Natsu with a deadpan expression.

"So what did you do whilst we were out on our…" Lucy asked and trailed away, not calling it a job. Natsu could be heard groaning and she promptly decided to drop him onto the ground and leave him behind, "We're already on land!"

"Can't… move…" Natsu complained.

Looking at her, Rex wondered what she was so happy about and then began telling the group about his adventure in Lilygreen, though Natsu was still recovering from the motion sickness and didn't pick up on most of the details aside from the end fight with the Super Golem. "…and when I get back I'm expecting something from the Council thanks to the destroyed houses." Rex noted with a despairing look on his face.

Most of them were just staring at him before Erza began speaking up, "That sort of attitude is not an uncommon occurrence. Areas without any magical guilds can develop an anti-guild sentiment, especially if it is has been attacked by a Dark Guild." She noted.

As the train station came into view Natsu began sweating nervously. "We can fly back, right Happy?"

"Aye sir!"

This prompted Erza to get right up behind and scared him, along with everyone else sweating profusely. "You stay with me Natsu, understand?" She demanded.

"Yes ma'am!" Natsu, Happy, and Gray replied.

Boarding the train, Rex was being told the story of their adventure in Galuna Island through Gray and Lucy. Much like the other members of the group Rex just stared at Gray as he explained his history with Deliora and Lyon, though as Erza looked deeper into his eyes there was something in them that was… off. There was sympathy, horror, understanding and something else but could not fathom what that last one. Was it pain? Fear? Or a different kind of anger?

"That's one hell of a story. You were a stripper right from an early age?" Rex asked with a smirk on his face, breaking the mood and annoying Gray.

Back in Magnolia Town the group was approaching the Guild Hall when Rex asked about the Golden Gat Key that Lucy had gotten from the mission she brought it out and waved it at him. "This is the gate key for the Horse Zodiac, Sagittarius. He's half man half horse." Lucy stated.

"Like this?" Gray asked, thinking of a man with a horse head.

"No, it's more like this." Rex replied and the image of a man's upper body with the lower body and legs of a horse.

For some unexplained reason the image of a dancing flower came to mind for Natsu and Rex buried his face in one of his hands. "That's not even close."

"How much do you think it's worth? I bet we could get loads of money." Happy suggested.

Drawing the key closer to her, Lucy looked aghast. "Are you kidding? These things are priceless and there are only twelve of them!"

Despite being equally repulsed by the idea Rex then asked, "So when you say priceless are we talking about billions, trillions, possibly even higher?"

"Not you too!" Lucy groaned.

Both Natsu and Gray felt their faces go red at the thought and tried to process having that much Jewel until they were both staring into space. "With that much money we would never have to work again!" Gray stated.

"Oh man, my brain hurts thinking about it!" Natsu agreed and was clutching his head with his hands.

Erza wasn't impressed with the display from the others. "The four of you are acting all so chipper, it's like you've forgotten that you broke the rules and snuck off to do an S-Class mission despite not being S-Class." She reminded them.

This killed the mood of everyone except for Rex who was gently rubbing the back of his head and pretending to not listen to what was going on. "What? But we finished the request!" Lucy pointed out.

"A request that wasn't officially accepted, meaning that the Master will punish you for those actions. I expect him to be furious and I cannot say what his punishment would be – it could even be _that_." Erza noted.

Hearing the word made the three long time members grin and pretend to be cool until Gray began cowering on the ground followed shortly by Natsu of all people. "I don't wanna have to go through _that_ again!" Gray cried out in horror.

Lucy was mirroring the shock despite not knowing what the unspoken punishment was and a wild variety of things that sprung in her mind, some of which are too horrifying to be described. "What the heck is _that_? Don't leave me hanging in suspense!"

This attitude was confusing Rex greatly. "I seriously doubt whatever strange punishment you're describing is going to be that bad. Besides, you stole an S-Class quest. Did you not think that there would be consequences?" He asked, baffled by their attitude.

The three of them just stared at him like was some kind of crazy person but Erza smiled at the what he had just said. "It's good to see that you're taking the correct attitude towards this Rex, you could learn something from him." She informed the boys and cat.

Happy was floating in the air and considered. "I suppose he is right…" He trailed off before a look of horror crossed his face and then spoke in the same way as Gray had, "…but if the master were to do _that_ as punishment I might die!" And Lucy was freaking out over being in the dark.

Rex sighed and shook his head, grabbing both Natsu and Gray as he dragged them towards the Guild Hall and ignoring their protests. Although he didn't say it out loud he was curious as to what it was going to involve, especially considering the nature of the crimes they had committed. Erza was dragging Happy along by the tail and Lucy resigned herself to her fate, shaking all the way. Something he was looking forward to was seeing Mirajane again, and Rex stopped promptly.

 _Wait, what._ Rex blinked at the last thought that crossed his mind. Did that really just happen?

Inside there were fewer people than normal and the ones who were present turned their eyes to face the group as Mirajane greeted them. "Welcome back everyone, how was the vacation?" Was your job successful Rex?" She asked them in turn.

"It was not a vacation it was a job. Where is Master Makarov?" Erza asked.

"The Master got called away for an emergency meeting, he won't be here for a few days." Mirajane replied.

There was a sigh of relief coming from the two boys and cat. "Yes, that means we still have some time before _that_ happens." Gray cheered and Lucy was still freaking out over the unknown punishment that they had been describing.

Rex just stared at them in disbelief before replying to Mirajane's question. "Well… if the magic council demands an apology from me then yeah I'd say that it was successful." He groaned. Sitting back down at the bar he further explained the damage he had inadvertently caused on his job and about the payment.

Mirajane nodded. "Yes, one of the rules regarding payment is that the client can increase or decrease the rewards as long as they inform the guild of these changes." She noted.

Meanwhile, Natsu and Happy were sitting down on a table and the salmon haired wizard could feel his stomach growling. "We need food." He complained, as Happy was chewing away on one of his fish.

"If we had taken that 7 million Jewel then we'd get plenty of food." Lucy added.

Walking over to them, Rex put forth a few suggestions. "Have you ever considered growing your own food? Or better yet, go out somewhere and fish? I know those winged fish tasted awful but maybe you might have better luck elsewhere."

Natsu jumped up at this idea. "That's a great idea! You can use your Splash thingy to help us!" He replied.

"Splash Plate." Rex corrected.

Soon they were out in the East Forest, having been lead towards a lake near a cliff. Natsu and Happy both retrieved a fishing rod and had set up a small camp near the cliff. "Why are you using those if Rex is going to swim?" Lucy asked, baffled.

"Even if he doesn't catch anything he can lead them right to us!" Natsu grinned.

Lucy saw a flaw in that plan and Rex had evidently seen it as well after changing into the Splash Plate. "I swear if you hook me I'll drag you down into the lake and drown you." He comedically threatened, making the three of them jump. Looking down at the lake he took a calming breath and then dived down with little splash, a few seconds later he saw the rods of the three members drop into the water.

"I wanted to get back to writing my novel, why did you drag me out here?" Lucy asked rhetorically. There was a cliff nearby and Reedus was sitting down and observing the group of them and began painting them, starting with the wizards that he could see.

Although it wasn't very large it certainly was deep and began swimming down deeper to try and get a closer look at some of the fish that could be living here and saw several shadows getting closer, founding himself face to face with large burgundy eel like fish that was easily as tall as his body and had yellow fins and strange white tufts though whether it was fur or not Rex couldn't tell. "…You're not harmful, are you?" Rex asked nervously.

This eel opened up his mouth and roared underwater at him, forcing him to swim away fast with Aqua Jet, a motion that was noticed by the group above. "Rex has already found one!" Natsu grinned and then a wave of water washed over them that rose up from below the surface.

"Aye…" Happy groaned.

"First Aquarius and now Rex?" Lucy cried out.

The eel chomped down on the space where he was once was and then he quickly turned around before manipulating the water currents to force the eel backwards towards the rods and then it decided to randomly snap on Natsu's line, where he began reeling it in like there was no tomorrow though it was proving to be pretty resistant until Rex hit it with Razor Shell and that knocked it out of the water.

Reedus had memorised the image of the eel like fish in the air along with Rex erupting from the water and Lucy, Natsu and Happy all reacting to the size of the thing. Looking down at his canvas he smiled at the result. "Would you look at that, just like the good old days." He noted.

"Holy cow that is huge!" Lucy exclaimed.

Happy then decided to start dancing from side to side. "Fishy wishy, get in my tummy! Oopah!"

"I knew you were immature but this is ridiculous." Lucy complained.

Natsu had skewered the fish and cooked it with his fire, making Happy yell out in shock. "Ah yeah, that looks tasty!" Natsu grinned.

"Why on earth would you cook it when you eat fish raw. It's how I like it!" Happy whined.

Lifting up the fish Natsu replied, "I caught it, so I eat it my way! If you're going to complain catch your own!" With that he began eating everything, meat and bones much to the disgust of Lucy and Rex. Once finished, he sat down and let out a belch.

Happy was thunderstruck before leaving and crying, "Fine! Our friendship is over!"

"Isn't that a bit much Happy?" Rex noted.

"Aren't you going to apologise to him?" Lucy asked Natsu who just pouted and looked away. "Oh come on, keep up that tough guy act and you'll never get the girls that way." That made Natsu stop suddenly and think back to someone from seven years ago and he fell silent and got up slowly. "That's good, now-"

She was interrupted by Natsu who spat out, "Just shut up for once!" and promptly walked away without saying anything.

Silence fell between the both of them and they exchanged a look. "Was this related to the trap that caught Natsu back in Galuna Island?" Rex asked and Lucy shrugged, just as clueless as he was and they began walking back to the Guild.

Underneath the second floor was a room filled to the brim with various different books – this was the archive for the Guild where records of the jobs taken and information about the members of Fairy Tail and Mirajane was busy down there with a stack of books in her hand. Her head turned to see that Rex and Lucy had entered the room.

"Holy crap, how many book are there?" Rex asked as he stepped inside.

"What is this place Mirajane?" Lucy asked.

"The Guild Archives, I'm just doing a bit of rearranging. It's just the boring stuff that needs to get done." Mirajane replied.

"Need any help? I'm good with the boring stuff." Lucy offered.

"Boring is certainly the word." Rex grumbled loud enough for the two of them and Lucy sighed as Mirajane smiled.

Despite calling all of it boring works Rex did help them out with a few things and Lucy began explaining about what was happening earlier with the fish and Happy running away. "…and then he just walked off on his own!" Lucy explained.

"That happens all the time, they'll make up eventually. It's what makes him so cute!" Mirajane explained.

"You think so?" Rex asked, sceptical. He could see Natsu and Gray doing that but not so much Natsu and Happy.

Lucy wasn't paying attention to what she was doing and stumbled on the ladder, falling down on the floor with a bunch of books. "Owww, guess ladders aren't my strong point." Lucy chuckled sheepishly and pulled out a piece of paper that was hidden between two books.

Laying it down on a table it turned out to be a painting that was no doubt done by Reedus that showed a group of young Fairy Tail members with Natsu in the centre and a couple of adults in the background including Master Makarov. "I remember that, it was painted when we were kids!" Mirajane remarked as they sat down at the table and got a closer look at the picture.

"Is the one standing next Gray Cana?" Rex guessed, tilting his head. The way her hair was done threw him off but it was the colour of it and the eyes and he put two and two together.

"Oh wow! I didn't realise that Macao and Wakaba looked so young in this picture!" Lucy stated amazed.

"There's Laxus." Rex spied a teenager with yellow spiky hair stand to the side and looking across at the main focus of the picture. The look on his face was different, just indifference

Lucy grinned at the sight of Natsu. "I'd know that face anywhere. But who's he supposed to be riding?"

"Oh that's Happy." Mirajane replied casually.

"What?" Both Rex and Lucy cried out.

Mirajane smiled as she continued her explanation. "This painting was done on the day that Happy hatched from the egg."

They both exchanged a look of confusion before looking at Mirajane again. "I think I might have misheard you, but did you say _hatched_?" he asked. Although all of the pokémon hatched from eggs for some reason he didn't expect the case to be the same in here of all places.

Mirajane nodded and then began thinking back to when it happened. "Let's see…"

* * *

 **Seven years ago**

" _Yo Natsu, where are you?" Makarov asked, seeing that he wasn't around._

 _Nearby, a younger Wakaba and Macao were sitting next to each other, the blue haired wizard holding a mug of beer in his hands. Wakaba still had his hair styled like in the present but wore a pair of black glasses and was wearing a cool looking jacket. "Knowing them master they're probably out fighting." Macao guessed._

 _At this point Mirajane hadn't been around in the Guild very long, and Macao was right since Natsu and Gray would challenge each other whenever they cross paths, in the Guild, in Magnolia, it didn't matter where. "Lame brain lizard!" "Panty flashing freak!" They said and butted heads with each other._

 _Erza was also a member of the guild and had her hair done up slightly differently, styled into a single ponytail and she wordlessly pushed them apart. "All right, enough out of you two!" She commanded._

 _They both turned on her in anger. "Mind you own business for once!" "You want a piece of me you jerk?"_

" _If you insist." Erza replied coolly, not worried in the slightest as they rushed to attack her and quickly knocked them out, leaving them lying in the floor. "You two are not to fight any more, understand?" She asked and began walking away from them._

" _You just got lucky." "I'll get you next time."_

 _Natsu would always get into fights like that and say that was what he wanted but sometimes there would be a sad look on his face. One day he was training in the forest by punching out images of Gray and Erza wrapped around a tree by some rope and was venting out his rage. "Stupid Gray! Stupid Erza!" He growled and began punching and kicking the tree multiple time before stopping to nurse a bruised hand._

 _That last punch made the area shake and an egg dropped where Natsu had been and it was a white egg that was almost as large as Natsu with blue markings on it. "Hey guys, check this egg I found!" he called out and brought it up to Makarov._

 _Taking not of the egg Makarov asked, "Where in blazes did you pick up that thing?"_

" _I found it in the East Forest!" Natsu proudly proclaimed._

" _The East Forest?" Makarov replied, eyebrows raised._

" _Well look at that, it looks like you're good for something after all. That egg could feed you for a couple of days, you gonna fry it up?" Gray smirked, only wearing his pants._

 _Cana picked up on this too. "Gray, clothes!" She called out and he panicked._

 _Natsu seemed disgusted by the thought. "I ain't cooking it, it's a dragon egg! I'm gonna hatch it!" He stated._

 _Walking up to egg, Cana was sceptical of that claim. "Are you sure about that?" She asked._

" _Of course I am, don't those marks look like the marks of a dragon?" Natsu retorted._

 _Gray was also inspecting the egg closely and looked just as sceptical as Cana. "I dunno about that."_

 _Turning to Makarov, Natsu asked "So anyway gramps, why don't you hatch the dragon with a spell?"_

 _Makarov sighed. "Don't be such a fool." He said, and the three kids looked up at him. "Using Magic for such a purpose would dishonour the miracle of life. Life is something that is bron from love and love alone – there is no spell that can transcend that power."_

 _Natsu was staring blankly at him, not following the old man. "Sorry gramps but I don't follow ya."_

" _You'll understand when you get older Natsu."_

 _Erza joined in the conversation. "He's saying that if you want it hatch you should do it on your own." Natsu and Gray turned to face her as she spoke "Normally you burn everything you touch to a crisp, so think of this as a new learning experience." They both looked at her cautiously._

 _Someone else caught her attention though when she spoke it was unlike the way they normally acted. "I've been looking for you Erza!" It was a young woman with white hair and a revealing purple outfit who swung her body round and gave a crazy not so nice grin. Erza turned to face her "Why don't we pick up where we left off, come and get some!" She challenged._

 _Sitting down next to her a younger girl with short white hair who wore a pink shirt and a boy with spiky white hair who wore a blue suit with a white shirt and red bowtie and they both looked nervously at the scene. "You're gonna fight again?" She asked, not bothering to stop the older one._

" _Now that we mention it Mira, we didn't finish our last fight, did we?" Erza asked and a red aura surrounded her, as Mirajane returned the smirk with a purple aura._

"Wait, WHAT?!" Rex shouted, eyes widening in surprise and looking back down at the painting and up again at Mirajane, comparing her appearance then and now in his mind. Lucy was similarly surprised at the fact that she was completely different.

"You were picking fights, with _Erza_?" Lucy asked.

Taking the painting and inspecting it a little further, Rex came to another surprising conclusion. "Hold up, is this one in the blue suit _Elfman_?" He asked. Mirajane nodded and the two of them just stared at the photo for a moment.

"This has got to be some kind of joke." Lucy muttered.

"I agree with Lucy. This has to be a joke, because Elfman looks so... unmanly like in this photo." Rex added. Elfman was currently in the main hall and suddenly sneezed.

 _They both charged at each other, glaring and shouting "I'm gonna bury you alive!" "I'll make you beg for mercy!" and threw a punch at the exact same time._

 _Mirajane then kicked Erza away. "Is that armour your wearing weak?" She insulted._

" _Like showing off your body?" Erza retaliated and they ran right into each other, gripping their hands and pushing at each other and they continued to insult each other to the amazement of Cana, Natsu and Gray._

" _Way to keep it classy girls." Cana groaned._

" _Oh yeah, we can't fight but when it comes to Mirajane, Erza is just as bad." Gray grumbled._

 _Cracking his knuckles, Natsu vowed, "Gimme a break, one of these days I'm going to beat both of them."_

 _They were joined by the young girl who also had white hair. "If you keep up that tough guy act Natsu you're never going to get the girls to like you."_

 _Natsu folded his arms. "Shut up, what do you know Lisanna."_

 _The now identified Lisanna continued, not upset at Natsu's insult. "Don't be mean like that. If you want some help with the egg you can ask me."_

" _You wanna help, really?" Natsu asked, suddenly excited._

 _Lisanna nodded, equally enthusiastic. "I've never tried hatching a dragon egg before. It could be fun."_

 _Gray was still looking at the egg and frowned. "I'm not sure if fun is the right word."_

" _So how do we hatch it?" Natsu asked._

 _Lisanna thought about for a moment. "I think that you have to warm it up first."_

 _Any reservations he had about hatching it were gone as a grin spread across his face. "Then I'm just the right man for the job." Natsu stated as he picked up then and unleashed his fire on it._

 _The other three freaked out and Gray tackled into Natsu, grabbing the egg and putting back down on the small blanket it was setting on. "Don't do that, you're gonna poach it not warm it!" Lisanna cried out and Natsu huffed. "Sit back and let me handle it._ _ **Take Over: Animal Soul!**_ _" Lisanna chanted as a pin Seal appeared and then transformed into a green bird with a yellow neck and head and pink feathers and a tail._

" _Oh I get it." Gray realised._

" _Birds are experts when it comes to hatching eggs." Lisanna informed Natsu._

 _Cana was standing next to the table that Elfman was at and she heard him sigh. "What's the problem?" She asked._

" _Well, my little sister has already perfected her Full Bodied Take Over magic, and so has my older sister but I'm still struggling." He explained, looking down at the table._

" _Ooh, I forgot that you all use the same Magic." Cana realised._

 _Sometime later, Lisanna and Natsu were outside underneath a tree and the egg still hadn't hatched yet, though with Natsu on all fours and staring at her it was making things a little bit awkward for them. "Stop staring like that, it's making me nervous." Lisanna complained._

" _Sorry." Natsu apologised._

" _It can get kind of boring." Lisanna noted and it moved slightly before smacking into her and forcing her out of the Take Over and right into Natsu's hands._

" _Does this mean it's close to hatching?!" Natsu asked, excitedly._

 _Once she was over her shock she got up and moved closer. "I think that the egg wants to be with you, it seems a lot happier." Lisanna guessed._

" _Really? You sure about that?" Natsu asked and the egg moved as if to say yes._

" _I have an idea, why don't we make a house for us and the egg." Lisanna suggested._

 _They walked to an area outside Magnolia and Natsu constructed a house made of rock that fell down. "Guess awesomeness doesn't account for everything." He groaned._

" _Once again, leave it to me!" Lisanna added and performed another Take Over, this time becoming a purple bunny that was larger than Natsu and then began working away, getting rid of the rock and replacing it with a straw domed house that was watertight. "Ta dah!"_

" _Oh wow! All I can do is destroy stuff, but it's cool to see you build something!"_

" _Come on, let's check inside!" Lisanna beckoned._

" _Uhhh… I don't think we can both fit in there." Natsu pointed out._

 _Whilst they were busy looking around inside the house and acting like a family, someone had caught wind of the egg and was watching them from the distance, knowing the egg was there by it's smell._

 _Back at the guild a younger Laxus who was an older teenager at this point and was talking to Macao and Wakaba about the egg that he found. "Seriously? Don't tell me you believe this dragon egg nonsense." Laxus said._

" _Well I've never seen a dragon egg before and he's been raised by a dragon so why not?" Macao replied._

" _Give him a break, their kids. Natsu went off with Lisanna and they look like such a cute couple together." Wakaba stated and began fantasizing about the two of them as a couple._

" _You guys are lame." Laxus scowled, though it was in a typical teenager attitude instead of insulting and walked away from._

 _They continued their conversation for a while until a very angry Mirajane trashed the table they were sitting down at. "I knew it! I knew something was wrong when Lisanna didn't show up at the Guild. Now she's gone to join Team Erza!" She roared in anger._

" _Woah! She is PO'd!" Macao jumped in fright._

" _Can't you sulk like a normal teenager?" Wakaba demanded._

 _Natsu had led out Lisanna to the tree and showed her the spot where he had found the egg. "You hit this tree and the egg fell down?" Lisanna asked and Natsu nodded out in response._

 _A heavy footstep followed by a fist shook the ground and they turned to see a Gorian, otherwise known as a forest Vulcan appeared and it smacked it lips, eyes dead set on the egg that the pink haired boy was holding. The difference being that they were coloured green and pink as opposed to grey and white like their mountain cousins. "Give me the egg!" it demanded._

 _Natsu gave the egg to Lisanna and moved in between them. "No way! But if you wanna eat something, then how about my fist!" He shouted as he charged at the Vulcan and began hitting it with a series of punches and kicks._

 _As one would expect from someone who was no older than 7/8 those punches didn't do much to the Gorian who simply mocked him for his efforts. "That kinda tickles!" He stated and then smacked Natsu and he bounced across the clearing multiple times to Lisanna's horror._

" _Let me help you!" Lisanna pleaded._

" _No! I'm the dad and I gotta protect my family. I'm the son of a dragon, I won't lose to you." Natsu insisted and then began attacking again in an attempt to defeat the Gorian but was smacked down several times and kicked for his troubles. Getting back up he rubbed his face with a hand._

" _Use your magic!" Lisanna suggested._

" _If this creep wants to use his fists then I'm gonna beat him with my fists!"_

 _The Gorian chuckled as it moved towards Natsu. "I'd like to see you try."_

 _One of Natsu's trademark grins appeared and he made a bring it motion with his hands. "Stop yapping and start fighting! I ain't gonna hold back you hear?" Natsu challenged and grinned._

 _Gorian charged forwards in anger at the statement and then jumped up and smacked down into the ground, blocking a blow from Natsu and then smacking him away into the tree, landing his feet into the tree before pushing off and used the thrust as they charged towards each other. Natsu landed one powerful headbutt on the Gorian and that was enough to knock it out._

" _Yay! You did it!" Lisanna cheered._

 _Natsu grinned as he had a large lump on his head and covered in bruises and injuries from the short fight with the Gorian and he fell down from them. "Oh no, you're hurt!" Lisanna cried out in fear._

 _After he had mostly recovered they began walking back to their house though on the way there it started raining and Natsu used his shirt to cover up the egg. As they were about to go in Lisanna stopped and told Natsu to wait. "You can come in now!"_

 _Natsu stepped in after a moment and Lisanna began playing family. "Welcome back dear." She asked._

" _What?" Natsu asked, slow on the uptake._

 _Lisanna pouted and then asked again, a bit of a hard tone in her voice. "I said… welcome back dear."_

 _Now he caught on and felt his cheeks blushing slightly embarrassed. "Uh, hi honey, I'm home." That did the trick as Lisanna was satisfied. They continued to talking for the rest of the day, with Lisanna learning a bit more about Natsu and that he has to go on jobs to pay for his food._

" _You mean you can't cook?" Lisanna asked in surprise. "I could cook a meal for you, though I'm not as good as Mira."_

 _The wonderful image of Mirajane using cooking tools and threatening them entered Natsu's mind. "You mean she cooks food and not people?" he asked, panicking at the prospect._

" _Elfman can do so as well." Lisanna replied._

 _This time the image of Elfman happily cooking something entered his mind and Natsu wasn't as creeped out – it certainly fit him more than normal. "Well that is something that I can see now that I think about it." He noted and then a thought crossed his mind and he took the egg and moved away from Lisanna. "NO! I won't let you have the egg and cook it!"_

" _Don't jump to conclusions." Lisanna scolded. "I want the egg to hatch as much as you do remember?"_

 _They continued to watch over the egg for the rest of the day and throughout the night, though as the night went on the two moved away slightly further from the egg and a shadow fell over the egg. When Natsu woke up he rubbed his eyes and looked around for a few moments before letting out a cry that startled Lisanna. "THE EGG IS GONE!"_

" _WHAT?!" She shouted in equal volume._

 _They returned to the Guild Hall and as soon as they did so Natsu began accusing all of the members in turn of stealing the egg. "I know that one of you stole the egg so cough it up Gray!" Natsu demanded loudly, whilst Lisanna was_

" _I don't have your dumb egg." Gray bluntly stated._

" _No… I don't recall having it either. Gray, your clothes." Cana added and the boy reacted with surprise._

 _Natsu turned to accuse the next person. "Laxus! You have it!"_

 _Laxus was standing up again a pillar and then paid attention to him. "I'm not interested in your egg." He defended himself, once again not in the same way as he did in the present day._

"Okay, now I know your tale is false. There is no way that Laxus was nice." Rex interrupted them again.

Mirajane tried to stifle a giggle but it escaped regardless, and she took a moment to compose herself before clearing her throat. "Despite his… sour attitude now Laxus was like a normal teenager back then. I don't know why he turned out the way he is now." She admitted with a frown and got back to the story.

" _Erza! Where is it?" Natsu demanded._

 _Erza was busy inspecting the job board and turned to face him. "Don't jump to conclusions."_

 _Lisanna finally spoke up by asking Mirajane. "What about you Mira?" She asked._

 _A younger Mirajane was taking delight in this and then took this opportunity to twist the knife in. "Nope, haven't seen. You ate it, didn't you pinky?" She grinned._

 _Despite the fact that Erza drew the line at this accusation, Natsu got pissed at what she said. "That's it you're going down!" He declared and tackled Mirajane. The two of them struggled and bumped into Gray who started fighting as well and Erza had to step in to try and stop the fight._

" _I hate to think what the Guild is gonna be like when they grow up." Wakaba said to Makarov._

 _Makarov opened an eye before replying, "They fight only because they acknowledge each other's strength. When they see themselves in each other it motivates them to become stronger, you have nothing to worry about when they grow up."_

 _Laxus snorted. "Yeah, you wish."_

" _Why are you so mean, I want my egg back!" Natsu complained._

" _Aw look at you crying, you're so cute!" Mirajane smirked._

" _Stop teasing him!" Erza scolded before addressing Natsu. "Please stop crying Natsu." She got up close to Mirajane with a scowl on her face as she demanded of Mirajane, "Now will you please give him the egg back."_

 _An irate Mirajane butted heads with Erza. "I told you I don't have it, just admit that you ate it porky!" She retaliated, and they began getting into an argument over who had the egg, whilst Lisanna was getting upset again about the fact that the egg was gone._

 _Cana made a noise upon realising something. "I remember Elfman telling me yesterday that he was jealous of the fact that you had the egg."_

" _What?" Natsu asked, outraged._

" _No… Elfman wouldn't do such a thing!" Lisanna protested._

 _However, it turned out that Elfman_ would _do such a thing as he came in carrying the egg with a sheepish grin on his face. "I'm sorry for not asking you, but you toss and turn so much in your sleep that I was worried about the egg, so I took it home with me and warmed it up." Elfman explained._

" _Really? You sure are a real man." Natsu asked, attitude doing a 180 flip and Elfman looked surprised at the comment._

 _Mirajane took another dig at Erza. "And you thought that it was my fault." She spat._

 _Erza returned the challenge by saying, "That's because it usually is your fault."_

 _Their bickering was interrupting by the sound of an audible crack and they all cried out in anticipation, drawing every member of the Guild who was present, including an exasperated Laxus. A crowd began forming as the egg jumped around, cracks getting large and then the egg jumped into the air and shone brightly to reveal a small blue cat with tiny white wings and a white underbelly._

" _Woah, a freaking cat!" Macao and Wakaba shouted at the same time._

" _it has wings, is it a bird?" Natsu asked, completely oblivious to what the two adults had just said._

" _It's a cat silly!" Lisanna corrected him._

 _The cat flew through the air and eventually landed on Natsu's head before opening his eyes and proclaiming his first word, "Aye!" in such a tinny adorable voice that even the author fawned over him because of how cute he was._

 _Similarly, the entire guild had hearts in their eyes as well and were also fawning over it. The tension that primarily came from the group over the egg along with everything else in the guild had relaxed, even someone as moody as Laxus had a smile on his face from the scene, though unlike most of the other adults didn't get in closer to the cat._

 _A blue parakeet flew into the guild hall and landed on Elfman. "My parakeet! My best friend is back!" He cheered as he held the bird in his hands._

 _Mirajane turned to Erza with a genuine smile on her face. "Yeah right, his parakeet was red." She remarked, and they shared a chuckle at the sight._

 _Natsu and Lisanna watched at the mood lightened up considerably with no hint of any sort of fight breaking out, and Lisanna grabbed Natsu's arm. "Look at that, everyone is all happy now." She stated._

" _Happy, huh?" Natsu echoed and watched as the blue cat fell onto his head, worn out from the flying and he gently picked up the cat in his arms. "In that case, I'll name him Happy."_

 _An ear twitched and the blue cat woke up saying "Aye!" in agreement. This caused another round of cheers from everyone who began celebrating the latest addition the family, and Natsu jumped up and down as he paraded Happy the 'dragon', despite the insistence of two of the Strauss siblings that Happy was in fact a cat. Sitting a few tables was Reedus Jonah, who went ahead and drew him as a dragon anyway._

Looking back at the painting the two newcomers smiled at the end of that tale and stared at it for a moment. "That's such a nice tale. I'd really like to have seen Happy as a kitten." Rex stated.

"Yo Mirajane!" Makarov called out from the entrance and he stood on the railing. "I need some help!"

"Coming Master!" Mirajane replied and began following him out, leaving the two of them to take a look at the painting.

It was cute to see that Happy was drawn much larger than he actually turned out to be, and Rex wondered what Happy would look like as an actual dragon. "So… this one must be Lisanna right?" Lucy noted, "We haven't seen her around at the guild. I wonder where she is." With that she put down the painting and walked back out to the first floor of the guild.

* * *

 **With Natsu**

Outside the Guild in the forest, Natsu was just staring out outside Magnolia Town and was also thinking a bit about Lisanna and what she said two years ago. Sighing, Natsu said "Fine, I'll make it up to him." And then began walking towards the nearest stream of water.

An angry Happy was sitting with his own fishing rod and trying to forget about Natsu completely. "This is it! The very last straw, I don't want to ever see Natsu again!" he declared.

Speaking of the devil, who else would show up but Natsu. "Hey!" He called out from behind Happy.

"I can't hear you!" Happy insisted.

"That's a real shame. I can't eat all of this by myself and I'd hate to see it go to waste." Natsu called out and that made Happy turn around to see that Natsu was carrying a bunch of fish over his head. There were four or five of the same fish that Natsu had initially eaten and his eyes widened from surprise and is mouth was drooling as Natsu asked, "Are you happy now?"

"Aye! Who else would I be!" Happy jumped up, having now completely forgotten about their earlier argument over the fish.

Rex stayed down in the basement and looked at the painting, not moving as he continued staring at it, taking it up in his hands and continued to dwell on what Lucy had just said. The only sound in the archive room being the muted sounds coming from the main hall and the level of noise was pretty normal, no one was arguing nor was there the danger of a fight breaking out for no reason. _I don't get it, where is Lisanna? She should either be living with Natsu or with her siblings… right? Then why-_

His train of thought was interrupted by a sudden flash of realization that hit him harder than a Solar Beam fired in the sun and he stood up too fast, banging his knees on the desk and jumped around, wincing and nursing it for a few moments. _It's amazing that I didn't see this any sooner, I am such an idiot. There were three members of the Strauss household and I was in the room that belonged to Lisanna, but if she isn't in the Guild, does that mean…_

Breaking out of his thoughts he knew that there were two people in the guild that who could tell him that story and didn't see Elfman present – so he had to go to Mirajane and calmly made his way out where the white-haired wizard had finished helping out Makarov and was making her way back to the archive room.

"Is something wrong, Rex?" Mirajane asked.

"Can we take this outside please?" Rex asked calmly, though there was a subtle sense of urgency.

Mirajane was caught off guard by this and wasn't sure where this was going to go. "Umm, I guess so." She replied, and they walked out of the Guild Hall.

Once they were out of earshot there was a look of concern on Rex's face before he began speaking up to Mirajane. "That was Lisanna's room I was staying in. Why?" It was straight to the point. At the mention of Lisanna's name, Mirajane fell silent and lowered her head to the ground. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay. I just wish to know why you would put me in her room."

Mirajane clenched her fists and regained her composure, though the look on her face was one of genuine sadness. "No… it's best if you did know. Just… give me a moment." Once Mirajane was certain that she was not going to cry she then began leading the way.

They walked in complete silence with neither one of them speaking a word to each other until they arrived outside Magnolia Town at the site of where Lisanna had built the house for her, Natsu, and the egg seven years ago but there was something else in front of it. A diamond shaped grave placed on a rectangle slab and it was made out of stone with some writing on it.

 **Lisanna Strauss X768 – X782**

 **Beloved sister and friend to animal souls.**

Staring at the gravestone, Rex took a few deep calming breaths as he realised he felt himself shaking slightly from the revelation – it wasn't that he didn't see it coming and this gravestone confirmed the nagging thought at the back of his mind but rather the fact that being made aware of her passing brought back some not so pleasant memories.

"…what happened?" Rex asked.

 _Two years ago at Magnolia's South Gate Park Lisanna had walked to that area and found Natsu and Happy, sitting down at the base and looking away from each other. There was little doubt as to why they were acting that way and all that she could was giggle at their childishness. "Got into a fight again?" She asked._

" _Oh, hey Lisanna." Natsu perked up._

" _Natsu ate my whole fish without even asking!" Happy shouted._

" _Whenever I eat a fish you say it's yours." Natsu shot back._

 _Elfman and Mirajane were walking over, though Elfman didn't have the scar going across his right eye and Mirajane was still wearing a revealing outfit. "Come on Lisanna let's go we gotta get to work."_

 _Lisanna turned back to face her older siblings. "Already? But we've just finished a job request."_

" _This one is an S-Class request though and Mirajane wants us to go and help her." Elfman pointed out._

 _This riled up Natsu. "You get to go on a S-Class quest? That is totally not fair!" He protested._

" _What kind of job is it?" Happy wondered._

" _An emergency request sent out by this place who want us to kill a monster simply called the beast." Mirajane explained and then winked at Natsu in a teasing manner. "You wanna come with us Natsu? You might learn a thing or two."_

 _Elfman looked outrage at the prospect. "What? I don't want him to come along, I'm the man of the family, I can protect both of you!" He declared much to the frustration of Natsu who stomped on the spot._

" _I'm sorry Natsu, but you might get another chance." Lisanna apologised as her older siblings began walking away._

" _Oh yeah? When?" Natsu scoffed, somehow doubting that._

" _I don't know when." Lisannna admitted._

 _Mirajane called out to her without looking back, "Hurry up Lisanna or we're gonna leave without you!"_

" _Bring us back a souvenir!" Happy cheered._

 _Lisanna took a couple of steps before facing Natsu and holding up her right hand with her index finger outstretched. "Natsu!" She called out one last time and said nothing more, though Natsu understood what she meant perfectly and mimicked the same hand movements._

 _Several other attempts had previously failed and the town had decided to ask Fairy Tail this time round. When the Beast had encountered them there was huge battle and both Lisanna and Mira had suffered from moderate injuries. Elfman was not as lucky because he tried to Take Over the beast and it failed, as it continued to go on a rampage._

 _"Elfman!" Mirajane cried and turned to an unconscious Lisanna. "Lisanna, please get up." She please and after a bit of prompting Lisanna came round and stood up._

 _"I'm fine Mira, focus on Elfman." She said, remaining calm in spite of the situation._

 _The Beast seemed to sense them and looked over towards the pair of battered Mages and began to lumber over. Mirajane began wondering how they were going to stop the Beast and save Elfman at the same time when she noticed something that she didn't want to see. "Lisanna!" Mirajane cried out in fear._

 _"Everything will be fine, right big brother? I know you can hear me Elfman, you can control it can't you? When this is over, we can get Happy some fish." Lisanna said, spreading out her arms, whilst she ignored Mirajane._

 _"Please Lisanna get back!" Mira shouted._

 _"You know I'm right big brother, you can control the Beast, because I've always believed in you and never lost faith. So come on, let's all do a Full Body Take Over." Lisanna smiled. It was to be her last as she died in one fell swoop._

 _"LISANNA!" Mirajane shouted and ran over to her younger sister._

 _"M-mira... it's so dark, but I can hear you..." Lisanna said, trying to turn her neck but being unable to. It was the last thing Mirajane heard from her and she screamed her deceased sister's name._

 _When the news broke of what unfolded, everyone couldn't think. The Guild Hall felt empty, as if the heart had been ripped out from Fairy Tail because everyone liked Lisanna, Natsu and her siblings even more so. After that fateful day it rained in Magnolia Town non-stop for several days as if Earthland itself was crying for Lisanna. She was officially buried in Kardia Cathedral but there was a second grave near the straw hut._

 _Natsu stood there looking down at the grave with a blank look on his face, still not believing what was going. This was exactly what he was concerned about and he was angry about the fact that had he been there things would've definitely gone different._

 _Elfman was heavily bandaged, particularly around his right eye. He began crying. "Lisanna is dead... and it's all my fault. Because I wasn't strong enough to control the Beast." He began to sob and was surprised when Natsu punched him._

 _"Shut up!" The Dragon Slayer shouted. "And stop crying, Lisanna wouldn't want that! A real man would think about the future!" Natsu added, growling as he did so._

 _"A real man..." Elfman thought and a determined look crossed his face._

After finishing her tale Mirajane began tearing up at the memory and then stopped once she felt Rex wiping away those tears. "You know… crying really doesn't suit you." He stated and paused before carrying on, "We can blame ourselves, each other whoever we want. But if we stay in the past we cannot move forwards."

Mirajane didn't know what to say to that in response before managing to ask a question, "How do you know that?"

A pause from Rex as he looked out past the house and into the distance before looking back at Mirajane right in the eye. "I've seen some terrifying events in my life and went through things that people never should. This beast… back in the pokémon world there are many pokémon that are smaller but could easily match that in strength. We're lucky to be able to cooperate in such a way" Rex admitted and the thought of there being more of these other creatures capable of destroying towns and cities made Mirajane pale – especially if he had one of those creatures as a part of his team.

"I guess that… whilst we should never forget the past we have to keep moving forwards." He explained and Mirajane noted the expression on his face, it was far from the relaxed and upbeat expression that she was used to him seeing.

"Keep moving forwards…" Mirajane repeated.

"That's what Elfman and Natsu are doing right?" Rex asked and Mirajane silently admitted that she didn't think of it that way. Seeing the both of them continue to go on jobs like that in spite of what happened and thought back to what he just said about the past and to keep moving forwards.

"I just don't know if I can do that. It's been so long since I used my Take Over magic." Mirajane confessed.

What she didn't expect was for Rex to gently embrace her hands and smile at her. "Yes you can, because Elfman, Natsu, and everyone else in the Guild are doing it. Even if it's one step of time." He replied and felt his face going red slightly from the action.

Mirajane looked back up at him and took all of this in for a moment. Moving on from what happened but never forgetting it, she hadn't thought about it like that until now and also wondered what sort of horrible events that had occurred in his life to make him this strong. When he was talking just now, the way he said it was with a seriousness that she hadn't heard him speak in at all since joining the Guild and found herself agreeing with what he had said. There was a slight blush on her face, seeing him act so concerned about her… it felt different than when the others consoled her.

"You're not feeling unwell, are you?" Rex asked, noticing the blush on her face.

Mirajane shook her head although the blush didn't fade away completely. "No, no I'm fine." She stated.

Despite not believing what she just said, Rex decided to let it slide and found his thoughts wandering to her again. _How is it that she can be even cuter when she is blushing… wait, what?_ Rex thought, similarly blushing albeit lighter than Mirajane. "I think we should start making our way back to the Guild Hall." He suggested.

"That's a good idea." Mirajane added in a slightly awkward tone.

When they made it back to the Guild Hall the first person to notice the two of them together was her brother Elfman. "Where were you sis?" he asked.

"We were out having a chat, that's all Elfman." Rex explained quickly before anyone could get any digs in.

Cana was one of those people who saw them coming back together and put down the glass of wine she was drinking from, a smirk forming on her face. Having seen them walk out and come back together, Cana realised that at least one of them was feeling something for the other or maybe even both of them. It would be fun to tease them about it.

"You sure?" Elfman asked, suspicious.

"Elfman, all we did was talk to each other." Mirajane repeated firmly, smiling as she normally did.

Macao turned to Wakaba before whispering, "So what do you think those two had a talk about?"

Wakaba was smiling, though he was facing away from Rex and thus he couldn't see the expression on his face as he answered, "Whatever it was, I'm sure it was productive." And they both continued to drink their mugs of beer acting like nothing had ever happened between them.

Sitting down at the bar, Rex ordered a coffee with cream and sugar and grinned as he began drinking it – it wasn't too hot, and it had the right amount of cream and sugar in it so that it wasn't too sweet either. An excellent balance that made this one of the best coffees he had had in a while.

"You enjoy it?" Mirajane asked.

"Oh yeah, this is one of the best ones that I've tasted – and I've tried a lot in a couple of regions." Rex replied, his face lighting up.

Zangoose was sitting nearby and acting disinterested in this – she had been formally introduced into the Guild like the other two members had been and Rex wasn't surprised that she didn't answer many of the questions that the wizards had for her. Now that she had seen the Guild Hall she was impressed, though without three of the members of that team Natsu had formed it was pretty quiet.

"So not every pokémon can evolve?" Erza asked, curious.

Zangoose nodded in confirmation. "It's estimated that about 90% of pokémon can evolve and no one knows why the remaining 10% can evolve. I'm the only one on Rex's team that cannot evolve, everyone else is fully evolved." She explained and then thought about it.

"Is something wrong?" Erza asked.

"No, it's just that I thought about my answer and I am technically correct. Don't worry about it." Zangoose shook off the question, and Erza raised an eyebrow at this, wondering what the pokémon meant by that, suspecting that there was something that she and by extension Rex was hiding – or if there was something else that he didn't see a need to do it yet.

* * *

 **Later, at night**

Back at the Strauss residence, Rex was sitting down with the window open and looking out in the distance. Now that he knew what had happened, it felt a lot more difficult to get some sleep and looked back over at the picture in the room, picking out Lisanna easily now that he knew which one she was. _Even though I never got to know you, there was no doubt that you were a Fairy Tail member just as much as anybody else._

He wasn't the only one who was still up as Mirajane was standing downstairs, looking into a mirror and thinking about Rex's words from earlier. To start with she would try to tap into the power that she had suppressed over the past two years and began to focus, to do so she would have to start with acceptance. Several minutes passed by but nothing happened.

Taking a breather, she relaxed and then tried again, this time she was feeling less nervous than before as the advice that Rex had given repeated earlier and this time there was a slight breeze inside the house as she felt a tiny spark of her magic flare up. _It's a start at least. I didn't realise that it would be this difficult._ She thought.

Elfman entered the room, having sensed it and was alert. "What was that just now?" He asked.

Mirajane got straight to the point. "Well, I told Lucy and Rex about the time that Natsu found Happy as an egg and later on… he sorta put two and two together and we talked about… Lisanna." She admitted slowly and Elfman turned towards the room that Rex was sitting down in.

"What?" Elfman exclaimed.

"I'm not done yet!" Mirajane hastily interrupted and carried on, "After that we had a talk, both about those events and he made some comments about his life. One of the things he told me was, 'whilst we should never forget the past we have to keep moving forwards'. I realised that… I should start following that."

Elfman didn't reply to it and despite wanting to have a talk with Rex about what he said, though having listened to what Mirajane said, the protective instinct he had had subsided as he considered what she had told him. Some of his thoughts mirrored what Mirajane had been thinking, what kind of events did he go through? Whatever they were, it certainly made him the man he was today.

"Alright sis, just don't put too much strain on yourself okay? Get some sleep." Elfman advised.

Given the way that he changed after Lisanna's death it came as a bit of a surprise that Elfman wasn't reacting in a more direct way and she couldn't help but hold back the smile forming on her face. _Moving on, that is what you would want, right Lisanna?_

* * *

 **Next Time – Phantom Lord**

 **Finally got this finished and we get to see the first steps in the relationship between Rex and Mirajane. Next time we begin what is one of my favourite arcs in the series - the stakes are raised high, Gajeel was a great villain (and subsequent redemption felt natural unlike other characters) and we finally get to see Makarov in action.**


	9. Phantom Lord

**Recap:** Following the defeat of the Super Golem, all of the missing women had been found thanks to Holly and Rex visited her to confront Max with the truth of the matter. En route back to the Guild Hall he met up with Natsu and his team where he learnt about their Galuna Island expedition and Gray's personal history. Later on both he and Lucy would learn about the day that Happy joined the Guild and talked with Mirajane about Lisanna and the reason that she didn't seem to be around in the Guild Hall.

* * *

 **Chapter 9 – Phantom Lord**

Nearly a week had passed since they returned from Galuna Island and the Master had returned to the Guild a few days later – though it was also the same day that a mix up of some kind happened between several prominent members of the Guild, though that is another story for another day. Right now, our heroes had already arrived back in Magnolia Town from a job that they had done together with the group consisting of Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Happy, Erza, and Rex.

"I really don't see why you had to come along, the reward for the job is only 25000 Jewel." Lucy complained, bringing up the poster of the job request.

"It's because we're a team Lucy! We do things together!" Natsu replied with enthusiasm.

"Aye sir!" Happy agreed.

"I apologise for not considering your feelings Lucy, if you wish you may hit more for my penance." Erza stated, with Lucy trying to wave her down.

"Yeah but the reward had to be split up between the six of us." Rex noted, holding his share of the reward, which was 4000 Jewel. As Lucy was the one to take the job she got the biggest share of the job reward which was only 1000 more than the others.

"But we have to share 4000 Jewel between us!" Happy pointed out.

"Let's face it, if it weren't for me you'd have to pack up and go back home." Gray remarked, walking with an unbuttoned shirt on. His injuries meant that there were bandages around his waist and diagonally across the are where Lyon had stabbed him and there was a notable dry red patch in the lower chest area.

This set off Natsu and they butted heads with each other once again, "You'd better watch your mouth or I'll pack you like a suitcase!" He shouted.

"That doesn't even make any sense." Gray retaliated.

Erza got in the way of them. "Don't start fighting!" She ordered.

"While you're at it Gray please put some clothes on." Rex pointed out and averted his eyes, causing Gray to jump up in surprise. The sooner that he got back to the Guild the better, he hadn't had a cup of coffee yet and couldn't wait to get back to Mirajane.

"A bit of advice Gray, never pick a fight in your underwear." Happy noted.

As they began walking in to Magnolia Town Rex noticed that something felt different than normal, tipped off by the fact that the other people around them were quieter. Looking at them he saw that they were whispering and pointing at them, recognising their Fairy Tail guild marks and saw the looks of… sympathy being given to them. "Is it just me or is something feeling really off here?" he announced, and they stopped whatever they were doing to look around and pick up some of the things that the local residents were saying.

"They're from the Fairy Tail guild, right?" "I don't think they know that yet." "How unfortunate." "I feel so bad for them."

Erza didn't like this sense of foreboding that she was feeling. "We need to get back to the Guild." She stated.

Turning in the direction of the Guild there was a collective look of surprise as they saw that out of the Guild Hall protruded several black pillars that appeared to be made out of metal. Although there was no danger of the building collapsing, it simply looked as if it had been gutted out and Rex counted a half dozen or so of these metal rods. "Wh-who would do such a thing?" Rex asked quietly, and they rushed to the entrance of the Guild Hall.

Outside, Mirajane just stood there and stared there at the wrecked but still accessible hall and there were tears going down her cheeks, and Rex was the first one to approach her. "What happened? Are you okay?" he asked.

Natsu was staring angrily at the guild hall. "This was deliberate, someone did this to our Guild!" he growled furiously.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Mirajane began explaining what had happened. "It was Phantom Lord, they got us good." She explained.

"Are you serious?" Gray asked in shock.

"Phantom Lord?" Erza also asked in surprise.

Mirajane nodded and then began leading the way through the inside of the Guild Hall which was mostly empty and had a few tables set at the sides, with tons of rubble both stone and wood scattered across the floors of the main hall. It was eerie, seeing the main hall so quiet and lifeless and looking up, the main belly of the pillars being visible when looking up and the lowest one was several metres above their head. They were escorted to a flight of stairs and made their way down to the basement level and nothing happened on the way down. _Who would be stupid enough to fall down these stairs?_ Rex thought.

Normally the basement level would be devoted to storage for furniture and other kegs of beer and wine that the Guild (mostly Cana) would drink though this time it was a lot more crowded. Round tables were set up with group of 3-4 chairs and the mood was far from brilliant as most of the members were just sitting there down cast.

A few mutters came from the Guild but nothing came out of it. "We've never been on the best terms with those guys but come on!" Jet stated, riled up at the state of the hall.

"Wanna go teach them a lesson?" Droy suggested, sitting crosslegged.

"Cool it guys, the Master wouldn't want us to it." Levy responded.

Master Makarov sitting on top of a crate and had a mug of beer in his hands and was more than a little bit tipsy. "Welcome back Lucy, were you a good girl and finished the job?" He asked half drunk.

"She wasn't the only one to go out on a job you know." Rex pointed out.

"Uh, I finished the job just fine Master." Lucy trailed off slightly still not believing what happened.

"Master, do you understand the gravity of the situation?" Erza asked calmly, narrowing her eyes.

The conversation was interrupted by a furious Natsu who held a flaming fist and looked ready to break something and demanded, "What are you doing, sitting around here when the Guild Hall has been totally destroyed?"

There was a hiccup from the Master before he replied, "There is no need to get your knickers in a twist my boy, this is not the end of the world or anything." Everyone in front of them reacted in a way of disbelief as he took a few gulps of his beer. "All this does is show how cowardly those Phantom Lord dunderheads really are, the person or persons responsible struck when no one was around. Is that anything worth bragging about?"

Rex had been previously on edge as they went into the Guild Hall and then calmed down immediately upon hearing this – if that was the case then nobody was hurt, including Mirajane, Elfman, Cana and the others whose names he knew. There was a brief pause as Rex wondered why his first thoughts had turned to Mirajane again and shook them out of his mind.

"Really?" Erza asked, relieved.

"They struck after everyone had left during the night." Mirajane noted.

"At least that is something." Rex sighed in relief and looked around at the sullen faces of the members. Although nobody was hurt, the pride of the Guild had taken quite a blow from the looks.

"We shouldn't be worrying about a group of people who are too cowardly to face us head on, ignore those fools." Makarov said.

Natsu disagreed and then punched one of the crate, getting everyone's attention. "Ain't gonna happen Gramps! We can't just let thme trash our place and get away with it." He shouted, glaring at him.

"I agree with Natsu, we can't take this lying down. I'm gonna make whoever is responsible pay a hundred times over!" Rex added, clenching both of his fists in a battle stance. Right now he couldn't care less about who would face him as long as he got to beat up the members of Phantom Lord.

Makarov belched lightly and wasn't having any of it. "My decision is final. For now, will we handle job request down here until the upstairs is repaired." He commanded without any hesitation.

Natsu was still feeling defiant though and persisted. "Are we really supposed to just do jobs right now-"

"NATSU! That's enough out of you!" Makarov shouted and attempted to hit him gently but ended up smacking Lucy's butt by accident.

Lucy understandably didn't appreciate it. "You smacked my butt why?" She asked, leaving the question hanging.

"Hands off Master." Mirajane huffed and Makarov laughed sheepishly before he jumped down from the crate before to go upstairs and out of sight of the rest of the group.

There was a collective moment of silence from the group, as they looked on in bewilderment at the Master's behaviour. "I don't get it, why doesn't gramps want us to go and take on those Phantom creeps?" Natsu stated, breaking the silence.

Nobody was looking directly at him as Mirajane answered, "Believe me, the Master doesn't like it either but conflict between Guilds has been outlawed by the magic council for nearly a hundred years. It's just as hard on him as it is on the rest of the Guild."

"If the Master doesn't want us to fight Phantom, then we have to do as he says." Erza decided and Natsu looked at her like she was crazy, but everyone else was looking at the floor or towards the walls of the basement.

Looking back around the room, Rex decided that now would be a good time to lighten up the mood of everyone else – right now the spirits of his comrades in the Guild needed to be brought up. Jumping up onto an empty table he cleared his throat, and everyone turned to face him in bewilderment before making a speech, "I know that things don't look so well with the destroyed Guild Hall, but that doesn't mean we have to give up like this because we're still here." More heads began turning and looking at him as he spoke, "We're the heart and soul of the guild and none of us are injured, is that any reason to mope around like this? Like Makarov said, those Phantom cowards didn't hurt any of us, so the best way to get back at them is to quit moping and carry on as usual."

Wondering if what he said was too much, Rex found that everyone started whispering too each other after a moment and several sheepish grins began breaking appearing on some of the members. A smile appeared on Mirajane's face as she realised the truth that lay in those words, guessing that the experiences with his pokémon back in the Hoenn region taught him a lot about family.

Cana smirked as she stopped idly drinking from her bottle of beer. "Would you look at that, Rex has only been here for less than a month yet it feels like he's been here for years." She observed.

"Well if you put it like that… I guess the kid is right." Macao stated, also smiling. Wakaba didn't say anything but let out a puff of smoke and was grinning at the little speech.

"Aye sir!" Happy agreed and jumped up.

"Real men would never let this get to them!" Elfman shouted, one foot on the table.

It didn't take long for the spirits of the rest of the guild to rise again and the members present began acting a lot more cheerful, though the sting of losing the hall to Phantom was still there. Makarov had returned in time to hear Rex lifting up the spirits of the guild and found himself smiling at what he said – it was a pity that Laxus wasn't here to help out as well, though if he was honest with himself that wouldn't really happen.

Mirajane found herself smiling as she sat down next to Rex. "That was an impressive speech from you, to think that there wasn't a single person smiling when we first found the ruined hall." She observed.

"Yeah? I guess it's because I travelled a lot as a trainer, walking long distances each day and camping out – you don't really settle down that often if at all. The pokémon team you raise become your family and, in a way, your home." Rex replied thoughtfully, looking away with a slight frown on his face.

This made Mirajane curious and she drew her attention to the Poke Balls on him. "So how can you tell which member of your team is in the corresponding Poke Ball?" She asked.

Taking one of the regular Poké Balls, he set it down on the table and then explained, "Well that's simple, if you hold it and peer closely you can see through it and get a view of the pokémon inside. That and I make sure that each slot contains a specific pokémon and avoid mixing them up. Sceptile is in this one."

Mirajane took up the ball and moved it closer to face, and true to his word the top half became translucent and the green form of the starter pokémon could be seen. Sceptile took note of Mirajane and shifted slightly in her ball. "How does this work? Considering the size of Sceptile…" She trailed off.

"When a pokémon is caught the ball used converts it into light and data for lack of a better term, before absorbing that light and creating the image you saw. Each capture is unique to that Poké Ball though and attempting to capture an owned pokémon won't work – and is also considered stealing. One of the perks is that the state of the pokémon is preserved." Rex explained, waving the ball around in the air.

This kind of technology was far more advanced than anything that Mirajane knew and she realised that even Rex didn't fully understand the exact idea behind it. _What else do that have back in Rex's world?_ She thought curiously.

Throughout the day some of the members of the Guild decided to at least clear out the main hall and try to fix the broken sections of it, also clearing out any broken furniture or parts to the Guild Hall. Makarov allowed the members to go to the second floor, though suspended job requests at least until they cleared up – and thankfully some of the members of Magnolia Town pitched in and helped supply some materials. It wasn't perfect but when they finished carefully removing the iron rods it looked a lot better than when they first saw it.

Repairs had taken most of the day to complete and by the time they were finished the sun had mostly set and the sky was between orange and blue and both Rex and Lucy were walking each other home. "I wasn't aware that Phantom Lord had such a rivalry with Fairy Tail." She noted as they began walking, Plue accompanying the two of them.

When they got to Lucy's apartment Rex went right up to the door and tested it carefully, to their surprise it opened without any resistance. "Oh no, please don't tell me…" Lucy groaned as they entered her apartment and went into the bedroom.

Of course, inside her apartment were Natsu and Happy, though to their surprise Gray and Erza were also present. Gray and Erza were both sitting down at table, with the latter not wearing armour for some reason and Natsu was sulking on the floor. "I KNEW IT!" Lucy shouted and threw her suitcase at him and Happy "WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

"Since the Guild is being attacked, it's safe to assume that members may still be in town." Erza explained.

"They might even know where we live." Gray added, freaking Lucy out. "Mirajane suggested that we stay together, you know strength in numbers."

"I guess that makes sense." Rex noted, sitting down at the end of the bed.

Happy seemed thrilled and jumped up. "That's why everyone in Fairy Tail is having a slumber party tonight!" He stated.

Considering that he was temporarily living with Mirajane and Elfman until he found a suitable place to rent Rex wondered if that meant every night was a slumber night and snorted gently. "I don't think it works if some people already do that Happy." He remarked before asking a question. "Since I'm apparently the only one left out, mind filling me in on Phantom Lord. I take that they are a legal Guild right?"

Erza was all business at the mention of Phantom Lord. "Yes, ever since the two guilds have been established we've been at odds with each other, it hasn't gone any further then a couple of squabbles. I don't know why they would do something of this magnitude." She admitted before turning to address Natsu and Gray.

"Since we're here there is something that needs to be addressed, your hygiene. I refuse to sleep in a room that reeks of sweat." Erza demanded.

"I don't wanna take a bath right now." Natsu whined.

"But I'm already in bed." Gray protested.

Erza pulled the two of them together and them smirked, "Why don't we take a bath like we did in the old days when we were kids?" She suggested, and the two boys began shaking on the spot.

"What kind of messed up relationship do you guys have?" Lucy freaked out.

"They're the strongest team!" Happy cheered.

"I think strangest team is more appropriate." Rex countered in a deadpan tone.

Most of the people present had taken a bath, and Lucy came out of hers with a wrinkled Plue. None of the boys had taken a bath and Natsu was now lying on the desk napping next to Happy who was gladly eating a fish. "OK Natsu, your turn." Lucy announced and then sighed. "Wanna take a spot Gray?" She asked and got a grunt in return.

"You really should try the bath, it is simply divine." Erza stated in a dreamy tone. Lucy sighed and lowered her head, the others were taking this making yourself a home thing way too seriously. Her whole body glowed as her towels disappeared and were replaced by pink pyjamas with the Heart Kreuz emblem in a dark purple colour.

"Is that really how you change your clothes?" Lucy asked, in surprise.

"You're still gonna pout like that Natsu?" Rex asked, now sitting down at the table, looking at the grumbling dragon slayer.

Natsu scowled before declaring, "It's because Gramps is too scared to face those Phantom jerks!"

Gray was reading some of Lucy's writing until she snatched it out of his hand and he turned to face Natsu. "That is not true, and you know it. The only reason they don't fight it out is because it would upset the balance of the magical world!" He pointed out.

Erza nodded in agreement. "Indeed, Makarov is one of the Ten Wizard Saints, a coveted title that is shared amongst the strongest wizards. Despite this fact, the Master of Phantom Lord – Jose Porla – is also one of them." She noted and that sent shivers up their spines. The mention of the Wizard Saints made her think about Siegrain and how he was also one of them.

"Yeah but our Guild is stronger and gramps can beat Phantom's Master!" Natsu declared.

"That's not true Natsu." Erza sighed, slightly annoyed at his persistence. "Phantom Lord have a group of elite wizards that can easily rival our S-Class members, they are the Element Four. Each of them is a master over their associated Magic and then there is their ace in the hole."

"Ace in the hole? Who is that?" Rex asked. If he had to be honest with himself, the idea of five members of the Guild being able to go toe to toe with the rest of the Guild it could be a problem should things escalate any further.

"Black Steel Gajeel. He is also the Iron Dragon Slayer." Erza stated.

Both Lucy and Rex looked at her in shock and then turned to face Natsu. "Another Dragon Slayer? I thought that Natsu was the only – isn't that supposed to be some sort of lost Magic though?" Rex asked and Natsu grumbled underneath his breath.

"So what would happen if the two guilds got into a massive war?" Rex asked.

Erza looked at him in the eye, dead serious. "No one would survive."

"That is seriously creepy!" Lucy whimpered.

"I'm going back to Mirajane and Elfman's house. Another person in your apartment is the last thing you need Lucy. Plus if any of those Phantom jerks attempted to beat them up it won't just be Elfman to guard her." Rex announced and got up to go, much to the surprise of the other members of the team.

Happy wouldn't pass this one up and a grin formed on his face. "You liiiiike her!" He teased.

"Don't be absurd! Yes she is pretty, but that's not an unexpected reaction!" Rex retorted rather loudly and slammed the door shut.

A moment of silence followed before Lucy glowered at Happy. "Way to ruin the mood, you stupid cat." She remarked.

Once outside Rex took a breath and began grumbling about Happy under his breath and then looked around. Although it was quiet and tranquil in the town, the possibility of other Phantom members lurking around stayed in his mind and started walking down, bringing out both Magmortar and Sceptile and got them up to speed. "Let's hope for their sake they don't come across us, I'll burn them to ash." Magmortar stated.

"Pretty sure that Natsu wants to do that and I think he might be more restrained than you are and that's saying something." Sceptile observed.

At the same time that Rex had slammed the door shut the members of Team Shadow Gear were out walking through the streets of Magnolia. "Are you sure it's a good idea to be out like this?" Jet asked.

"Yeah, wouldn't you be better off with Laki and the girls?" Droy added, equally concerned.

"Don't worry! If we run into trouble I've got you to help me!" Levy remarked cheerfully and both of them fell down for a second before coming back up with hearts in their eyes.

"You mean it? I'll be the one to protect you Levy!" Jet declared.

"No, I will!" Droy argued.

Someone was watching them from the rooftops and sneered down before jumping from the rooftops, a grin plastered all over his face as he then began dashing towards them with obvious malicious intent. Shadow Gear heard the noise but saw their attacker before it was too late to do anything about as they found themselves on the receiving end of a cruel beatdown with little time to defend themselves with any kind of attack. The only thing that they saw was their assailants shadow that passed over them.

After Rex had explained what they were going to do a sudden feeling washed over him and he then turned away from them. "Someone from Phantom is here, I can sense it." He noted and used the Sky Plate to fly into the air, looking around the area he spotted someone heading off to the South Gate Park dragging a few people that he recognised as Levy, Jet and Droy. Rex didn't expect to see a member of Phantom Lord so soon and quickly dived back down next to Sectile and Magmortar

"Levy is in trouble, let's go!" Rex stated as he landed, and they began running together in the direction of the park. As they got within view of the park he turned to Sceptile and said, "Don't wait on me!"

Sceptile nodded and dashed forwards, easily covering the distance and leaping into it in seconds, spotting the person responsible trying to do something with the beaten trio of wizards and smirking maliciously. _Is this guy trying to crucify them?_ She wondered and then threw a Focus Blast at him. Sensing that someone was behind him the person jumped to avoid the blue sphere and then scowled, irritated at the fact that his work was ruined.

"Excellent job Sceptile!" Rex grinned as came over with Magmortar a second behind and he immediately turned his attention to the injuries.

"Those fairies were weak and pathetic. Didn't even bother fighting back." The person before them sneered.

Standing in front of him was man with long spiky black hair and had rivets for eyebrows as well as nose and chin piercings, and his sharp eyes were red. He was wearing a long blue sleeveless tunic that was outlined with a grey metal that also had studs in regular intervals on them as well and a black wing accessory on the left side of the upper chest. A belt kept it from moving too much and he wore light, loose pants and black boots and he wore a pair of studded gloves.

"You're with Phantom, right? Based on your appearance I'd say that you're Gajeel, am I wrong?"

"Gi hi hi. Well it looks as if this fairy is slightly smarter than the rest. I'm gonna have fun beating you senseless." Gajeel replied with an evil grin on his face, though he eyed up the two strange creatures, wondering if this was some kind of summoning magic.

"Haven't you heard about what happens when you corner prey? Their fighting instinct kicks in _really_ hard." Rex replied coolly as he moved over to inspect Shadow Gear. They were beaten up badly and Gajeel had managed to somehow print the Phantom Lord emblem on their bodies, and they were bleeding in areas as well.

"You two, take Shadow Gear and get them to Mirajane and Elfman." Rex ordered.

"Really? Give him a couple of minutes with me and I'll have him begging for mercy." Magmortar boasted and expanded his cannons.

"Even though Magmortar ends up overdoing it from time to time Sceptile concedes that he would be the best choice for this match up." The starter added, confused.

"Maybe but I need a faster pokémon and they also resist his magic." Rex explained himself and brought out the other Great Ball.

Neither of them were happy with the prospect, though Sceptile felt a slight sense of relief as the only attacking moves that were of any use in this fight would be Night Slash and Focus Blast and her other two would be resisted by Gajeel. She picked up Levy and heaved her over her shoulder and Magmortar went for the more mundane route and use Psychic to levitate Jet and Droy before turning to leave.

Gajeel scowled at this scene and made to attack these strange creatures, shouting "I won't let you get away!" and charged forwards only to get a glowing punch right in his face and he stumbled backwards.

Activating the Fist Plate he took up an attacking stance and stood in between Gajeel and the retreating forms of his pokémon, Great Ball in one hand. "You are not going to harm anyone else tonight Black Steel."

Gajeel rubbed his face and cricked his neck from side to side. "That wasn't half bad for a lucky shot. I gotta say that seeing your Multitype in person is kinda strange Rex Vermend." He admitted, with a smirk still plastered on his face.

 _The guy who eats iron is calling me strange._ Rex thought with a raised eyebrow and tapped the button on the Great Ball, expanding it. "Starmie, standby for battle!" Rex called out as he opened the ball.

A flash of light materialised to form a violet starfish with two sets of arms, the back ones being semi-attached, and an octagonal ruby coloured gem embedded in a gold crown like formation. It was as tall as a kid who was entering his teenage years and the core flashed in response, taking note of his surroundings before eyeing up Gajeel. "Is he our foe?" Starmie asked in a monotone voice.

Gajeel blinked in surprise at this, quickly seeing that those capsules must be used to summon this creature like Celestial Spirits. "Is this supposed to be a joke? I'm fighting a friggin' starfish?" He stated before laughing in his distinct way.

"Do not assume I am weak." They replied, still in their monotone voice. Rex silently admitted to himself that now that he could understand Starmie it was such a strange voice to be hearing from them. It was hollow, rattling and alien.

"All of your pathetic Guild is weak. **Iron Dragon's Club!** " Gajeel shouted.

A lint green seal appeared and Gajeel's arms morphed into the same black club that had destroyed the Guild hall and shot forwards towards both of them with impressive speed. Starmie jumped into the air, the back rotating calmly as it ploughed through the grass and Rex dived to the side.

Rotating his body, Gajeel swung the clubs around as they came back and kept both of them out of range. A blue beam formed in front of the core as Starmie fired an Ice Beam without hesitation but missed as he jumped up. " **Mach Punch.** " Rex called out and charged forwards, heading for the face again.

What he didn't expect was for Gajeel's reaction time to be faster than anticipated as the clubs blocked a blow and the right arm then morphed into a sword with spikes running along the blade and sliced at the space where Rex had been. _A second later then things would have gotten ugly._ Rex thought and put some distance between the two of them.

"Gi hi, if you get too close to the Iron Dragon Sword then it'll tear you to shreds!" Gajeel stated as the blade glinted in the light.

"Then I'll respond in kind with my own Sacred Sword." Rex noted and a blade of energy fromed out of thin air, with Starmie watching beside Rex.

They both charged at each other and began clashing in an attempt to land a hit, with Gajeel starting out on the offensive and Rex having to defend himself and then blocked a blow from overhead. Having learned from the encounter with the Vulcan he moved a step back before they two blades made and pushed Gajeel off, swinging for a low hit and managed to strike him on the chest. Gajeel recovered in time to spot Starmie firing a red beam with a white outline and used the sword to deflect it to the side.

Summoning another sword in his hand, Rex doubled down on his attacks and began repeatedly smacking away at Gajeel's blade and was gaining control of this fight. Now that he was wielding two swords he could match the Iron Dragon Sword and then pushed it to the left before striking out at his body an landing a few hits – guessing that it was the power of the Fist Plate that allowed him to block and counter easily. Still keeping his sword out, Gajeel smirked as the outside of the blade began buzzing like a chainsaw and Rex blinked in surprise, Starmie's body quivering slightly.

 _I guess that means it's even stronger than before._ Rex thought and the two of them faced each other, an unspoken message passing between the two as they resumed the battle.

Now that the blade was buzzing it had a slightly larger radius and a lot more power behind it as Gajeel swiped at Rex the force of the blade created a wave of wind during the air and when he brought it down from above Rex dug underground. Despite this, the impact could still be felt and he was forced down deeper and left Starmie who was making good use of her speed, and spinning their body to change direction mid-air and avoid the slashes that Gajeel was attempting.

"You're a nimble little starfish ain't ya?" Gajeel growled and outstretched his other arm " **Iron Dragon's Kunai!** " He chanted.

Starmie didn't flinch and Gajeel watched as three light blue orbs appeared at the end of the upper limbs before firing short burst of cold energy at the projectiles, hitting all but two of them. The one that were hit with Ice Beam slowed down and stopped several feet in front of her. The few that did hit her limbs seemed to do practically no damage. "Would you care to try again?" They asked politely.

Another Power Gem shout out of the core and Gajeel slashed upwards, deflecting the beam and making it spread outwards over the battlefield and they cut the attack off before it could reach their core. Gajeel ran up and sliced at Starmie who spun out of the way and let another Dazzling Gleam loose as Gajeel swung up from the air, striking across the core and flattening Starmie into the ground, sparks flying from the sword making contact with it.

Rex chose this time to leap out from underground and then throw an Aura Sphere point black at Gajeel, watching it explode over his body and then used Body Slam to pin him onto the floor again.

"Two on one hardly seems fair." Gajeel remarked sarcastically as he got back up.

"Brutally beating up a wizard team isn't?" Rex countered as they squared off and Gajeel snickered.

"It is if it's fun." Gajeel replied, morphing both of his arms into clubs.

Swinging at each other again, Rex parried a blow to the left and attempted to strike from the right as he switched hands. Despite having the advantage with his attack, Gajeel's brute strength was more than capable of keeping the sword in place and they cancelled each other out. Gripping the sword with both hands they eyed each other carefully.

Gajeel lunged forwards again and Rex rolled over before grabbing the dragon slayer and used Seismic Toss to fling him in the ground, though noted that he didn't seem to suffer from a form of motion sickness. This was going to be a problem as he would not be able to end the fight as quickly as Rex would be able to.

" **Hydro Pump.** " Starmie droned and then formed a mirror of water, firing out a large volume of water at Gajeel and nearly hit him but the recovery of the Phantom wizard resulted in the area being half sprayed with water.

" **Iron Dragon's Club!** " Gajeel shouted and aimed right at Starmie this time.

Formed from his foot this time, the club was caught by Rex who planted his feet firmly into the ground and was pushed back, coming to a rather quick stop. Both of his hands were gripping the club. "Impressive, so the tales of your strength are true after all." Gajeel noted and smaller clubs sprung out of the large one, a couple of them smacking Rex from the side. He followed this up with several normal punches and then delivered a stronger one with enough force to smack him into the tree in the Park.

Starmie jumped in front of Gajeel as they used Dazzling Gleam, unleashing a wave of rainbow light into the surrounding area, damaging not just Gajeel but also his eyes temporarily as he struggled to get a clear image of his surroundings. "Thanks for that save." Rex noted, thinking about several possible combinations to use.

"Try this on for size, **Flash Uppercut!** " Rex declared.

Gajeel still had his other senses and tried to swing a punch but ended up meeting air and felt a right hook followed by an uppercut. Following this up he rocketed into the air with Aqua Jet and plummeted him down back to the earth and when Gajeel struggled to get back up Starmie supplied another Ice Beam, adding a further chill to the water that was on Gajeel.

"Gotta admit that I felt it, but I ain't done yet. Bashing you head in is going to be a lot of fun." Gajeel noted as he got up. " **Iron Dragon's Kunai!** " he chanted.

A green seal appeared and then fired a group of six Kunai knives flung themselves one after another, Rex dancing out of the way. Gajeel used the Spell several more times, only a couple of them managed to land a hit and several tears appeared in the clothes that came with his Fist Plate form. "Stay still!" Gajeel barked and continued to attack, changing his arms to clubs and began swinging. Sensing an attack coming from behind, Gajeel ducked and then fired one of them at the starfish who jumped up into the air and then fired an Ice Beam, though missed their target once again.

At this point, Gajeel and Rex were moving more and more across the battlefield trading physical blows without the use of magic or moves, and then threw a slow, strong punch at Rex's face before kicking out several time and then grinned as he chanted, " **Iron Dragon's Club!** " and then fired the polearm right into Rex's lower left body.

After being ploughed through the ground, Rex coughed as he slowly got up. _This hurts far more than it should – is this what getting hit by a Steel type move feels like? I'm juts glad I don't have the Iron Plate on me, I'd hate to think how hew would react._ Rex thought and dragged himself out of the hole and saw that Gajeel had jumped over to further beat him into the ground.

"I will not allow that to happen." Starmie interrupted and then fired another Power Gem and knocking Gajeel to the side.

Infuriated at the fact that he didn't get a hit on the fairy scum, Gajeel's hands returned to normal as he shouted, " **Iron Dragon's Sword!** " and then slashed at a faster speed, cutting off several of the limbs. "Not so cocky now are ya starfish?" Gajeel smirked.

That smirk was wiped off of his face as the wound glowed white and within seconds the lost limbs returned to normal as if nothing had happened. "What?!" Gajeel asked, stunned.

Switching into the Zap Plate, arcs began sparking along Rex's arms as he watched Gajeel's arms retuning to normal. "Biology lesson Gajeel, starfish can regenerate lost limbs but Starmie can do so in seconds." Rex grinned.

"Are you going to get serious? Cuz' I have a feeling your holding back and that ain't gonna work on me." Gajeel taunted once he recovered.

"If you're gonna get serious, then I'll gladly respond in kind." Rex noted with a growl and they fell silent, waiting for one of them to make a move.

A bead of sweat fell down and then they began rushing towards each other, Gajeel morphing his arms into clubs and Rex coating his fists with electricity and then began swinging at each other, blocking blows and trying to gain the upper hand. Instead of trying to block the poles head on, Rex dodged to the side and then struck several times on the offending arm but was forced to block a strike and felt pain on the knuckles of his right fist and jumped back, shielding himself with Protect to avoid another blow.

" **Thunder Fang!** " Rex shouted as he jumped up and then sunk some electrified teeth into Gajeel and his whole body lit up like a light bulb for several seconds, though he managed to find the strength to throw Rex off and then jumped forwards for another fast attack. " **Fake Out.** " Rex managed to say before Gajeel could land a hit and the small shockwave stunned him for a few seconds.

Starmie spun in with a Dazzling Gleam and blinded Gajeel, taking a hit to the bottom of the frame and a few cracks appeared right at the bottom of the core. Although they showed concern it was minimal damage and it was simply a matter of avoiding Gajeel's powerful strike.

"You're dead! **Iron Dragon's…** " Gajeel began and his cheeks swelled up just like Natsu's.

"A breath attack as well?!" Rex cried out. "Starmie! **Double Hydro Pump!** " Nodding in understanding they span around and were beside him and a mirror of water formed in front of both trainer and pokémon alike.

" **ROAR!** " Gajeel shouted.

A concentrated blast of water shot out of each mirror and then combined to create a larger vortex to combat a silver tornado that Gajeel had fired and streams of water and fine iron shards erupted from where they clashed, spreading out over the area. It took their combined power to stop the attack, and even with the type resistance it was barely holding.

"Impossible!" Gajeel stated, getting more irritated at these fairy pests. "No one has ever been able to stop my roar!"

"We just did." Rex grinned, though noted that if it had been a single Hydro Pump then one of them would be likely damaged from that attack and then charged at Gajeel again. He swung a Thunder Punch and Gajeel caught it – and was electrocuted with a Thunderbolt for his troubles.

Despite being shocked with 100,000 volts of electricity he managed to bear the pain and then smack Rex in the face with an Iron Dragon Club, forcefully ripping him from the wizards grip and blood began trickling down his nose. " **Counter.** " Rex groaned and then quickly struck back with double the damage – sending Gajeel reeling into the railing, nearly tearing it off his hinges.

Taking a moment to assess himself Rex realised that he wasn't looking in such good shape, as there were several marks from where Gajeel has struck him, some of it already swelling and the blood trickling down from his nose. It really said something that Starmie was looking in better condition than himself, a quick glance revealed that they had only minor cracks and scrapes on their core – nothing that wouldn't take too long to heal.

* * *

 **With Sceptile**

Back with the other two pokémon, Magmortar grumbled slightly as they were heading back to Mirajane and Elfman. "So what if that guy is faster than me? A well-placed Fire Blast can cook that chump!" Magmortar spat.

"Considering that you've been with him for… nearly 5 years now? That means you've known him more than anyone else and that his choices are his own." Sceptile pointed out halfheartedly.

They both understood why he wanted to Starmie out in the fight, Magmortar was simply letting off some steam over not being chosen to fight an Iron Dragon Slayer. When they arrived, Sceptile knocked on her the door with her free claw and kept on doing so until it opened to reveal Mirajane who was half asleep.

"Wake up, we've got trouble!" Sceptile shouted.

Upon seeing the her beaten up guildmates Mirajane broke out of her sleep and then called out "Elfman!" as Sceptile handed Levy. Seeing them all beaten up like this made her feel sick, destroying the Guild was one thing but this was just wrong.

Elfman bolted down and tripped on the stairs, crashing into the floor and got up acting like it never happened. "A real man would attack head on!" he shouted, speech slightly slurred from getting himself up and he shook his head.

"It was Black Steel. Rex is currently fighting him over at the park, though we didn't stop until we got here." Magmortar explained.

"Gajeel is here?" Elfman asked, surprised.

"Get them to the hospital, there is a ward that deals with injured wizards. Elfman take Jet and Droy and guide Sceptile." Mirajane stated.

Elfman silently protested but gave up and Magmortar moved the unconscious Jet and Droy into his hands and he began heaving them over each shoulder,

"We're going to stop by Natsu's group. I'd love to get to the fight but it's not going to be just the two of us." Magmortar noted and then found himself sweating slightly at the look of determination that Mirajane was giving him – something about it felt unnerving compared to her normal smile that she always wore and shook his head.

As they split up Mirajane found herself worried about Rex, she was sure that he could take care of himself in his fight against Gajeel but compared to the few other wizards that Rex had fought he was a lot stronger than Erigor or Natsu and he was a more brutal one too – not one who would pull his punches. _Please win Rex, for the sake of the Guild and for Shadow Gear._

* * *

 **With Rex**

Both wizards had returned to close combat and trading blows with Starmie firing Power Gem in short bursts, wanting to avoid hurting Rex by accident and spun around the battlefield. They had moved out of the park and onto the rooftops, Starmie following them closely and patiently waiting for an opening.

An Iron Dragon Club shot from Gajeel's hand and Rex dived forwards into a roll and Discharge a wave of electricity into the surrounding area, catching the club and electrocuting Gajeel through conduction. _Gajeel can certainly take a hit and dish more than enough of them out – maybe I should have sent out Magmortar after all._ He thought and shook his head, no point in complaining about that now.

" **Iron Dragon's Sword!** " Gajeel shouted as the attacking arm changed into a sword that began buzzing.

He slashed across the chest and the swing was directed upwards by an orange sword and Gajeel responded with a back flip in the air and used the momentum to swing even harder at Rex and the chainsaw function began slowly wearing away at the Sacred Sword attack. Rex dissipated the blade and switched to the Splash Plate and puffed his cheeks as he attacked with Scald.

 _This water feels way too hot! It's like Juvia when she actually feels an emotion._ Gajeel noted, his body steaming from the Scald.

 _No burn? Considering how often it likes to do so back home I'm surprise neither Body Slam nor Scald's status effect kicked in._ Rex thought, mentally cursing his luck. Speaking of luck he may as well give it a shot – one of the many moves he's wanted to use was Metronome to see what happens and was praying to the heavens that it wasn't a move like Explosion or Memento.

" **Metronome!** " Rex called out and wagged a finger.

A moment passed where nothing happened and Gajeel sprung forwards with glee on his face. "End of the line, fairy!" he declared and then a white orb enveloped the hand and multiple needles fired from the orb, all of them hitting Gajeel.

 _Pin Missile? Seriously?_ Rex thought and stared at the hand. _Well at least it's not Poison Sting or something useless like that._

Seeing as his prey was not in fact out of magic irritated Gajeel, if he could beat up this pathetic fairy it would make up for all of the trouble that this fairy had caused him. "This has to be the first time that someone's made me work to win, but you're not lookin' too good. How about I fix that black eye and give you another one?" Gajeel suggested.

"Maybe but have you looked in a mirror?" Rex countered and tried to ignore the fact that his breathing was starting to slow down.

"Nice try but that bravado ain't gonna save you. **Iron Dragon's Scales!** " Gajeel called out as a seal appeared underneath him as his skin changed to become a set of iron scales, and a green aura pulsated from his body until the seal faded away.

 _This doesn't look too good, guess I gotta start uses some status moves._ Rex thought to himself and he used Aqua Ring, a blue ethereal ring appearing next to his Mega Bracelet and a soothing green pulse was felt across his body. "Don't get too close Starmie." Rex warned.

"Are you ready to lose, fairy?" Gajeel grinned.

"I said that prey fights back when trapped in a corner, remember that." Rex replied.

Switching back to the Fist Plate he charged forwards and then swung at Gajeel with Jump Kick but saw that he didn't attempt to move from the spot, shifting slightly to take the blow head on and then force of the attack ripped off some of the roof tiles. "You done with those pitiful attacks?" Gajeel taunted before gripping him by the leg and throwing Rex into a chimney.

An Ice Beam hit Gajeel in the back and he turned with a toothy grin towards Starmie, whose body spun around nervous as they kept up the attack. Now I get to have fun with the starfish. **Iron Dragon's Roar!** "

" **Rapid Spin.** " Starmie quickly called out and began spinning at a much faster rate normal in time as the spinning body dissipated the attack, though the dragon slaying magic was still doing a lot of damage to their body. Once over, it showed that most of the limbs looked as if they had been filed badly down and they regenerated at a slower rate than normal.

Getting back up, Rex boosted himself with a Bulk Up and his muscles bulged for a few seconds and ran right at Gajeel again, determined to stop him and then swung his arms in an X motion and scored a critical hit. The force of the blow caught Gajeel by surprise as he was knocked off of the roof and onto the street, landing with a solid crash and he got back up to see Rex landing on top of him. " **Brick Break!** " Rex continued the assault.

Catching the attack in his arm Gajeel responded with a powerful blow to the chest, knocking Rex off of his balance and sending him stumbling to see that Gajeel had dashed in front of him. "End of the line, scumbag. **Iron Dragon's Club!** " A metal club rammed into the left side of Rex's body and Gajeel plowed it through the street, laughing like a maniac.

Starmie jumped from above and then fired a Hydro Pump that was concentrated to a smaller area with the intent of using the force to inflict more damage, though if that was the case Gajeel was doing a very good job of keeping himself to the ground. Actually he was using his Iron Dragon Slaying Magic to create foot blades that anchored himself to the ground and responded by firing a set of Kunai at Starmie that were parried away and another Ice Beam fired at Gajeel.

"Shower me with all the attacks you want you can't hurt me." Gajeel stated, not realising that the water combined with the ice was slowing down his speed slightly.

"Are you as stupid as Natsu?" Starmie asked, though the montone voice didn't convey any sarcasm in the way they asked the question.

This irritated Gajeel who then ran forwards and threw a punch at Starmie, missing as they spun out of the way and began ricocheting off of the street, arcing into the air and landing behind Gajeel who turned around and puffed up his cheek before unleashing a silver tornado that barrelled towards the starfish.

Beneath Gajeel the ground titled backwards and shook violently, forcing his Roar to miss and shoot upwards, moving to the side of Starmie who used Dazzling Gleam to block it out of instinct and some of the attack dissolved under the magic. _I forgot, typing still matters to us._ Starmie noted.

"The hell?" Gajeel growled and saw that Rex was back in the fight.

"Keep him busy, I gotta focus and charge up this next attack." Rex stated and Starmie nodded.

They shot forwards and then fired an Ice Beam at Gajeel, trying to freeze his feet onto the ground and at least keep him away from Rex but he was moving around the street and got dangerously close – trying to keep away from him whilst keeping him away from Rex was a pretty difficult thing to do.

Another Dazzling Gleam but this time Gajeel had clearly seen it coming and closed his eyes. "I ain't gonna fall for that blind crap again!" He declared and then kept his eyes shut, using his sense of smell to guide him and then kicked out at Starmie, the force of the kick breaking through the ground and shattering the glass of the houses nearby and nearly tearing a couple of doors off in the process.

 _Those scales, they increase his attack and defense as well?_ Starmie thought, body shaking in surprise as they were also caught in the force from the attack and felt his world spinning.

Meanwhile, Rex was still standing without moving and a golden light began shining from his right hand as his left was bruising after being hit with the club and moving it hurt a lot. Even though the Aqua Ring had activated a couple of times and healed enough of the damage for him to carry on fighting he was still able to fight and now the fist, along with some of the blood vessels in his arm. _That's actually kind of creepy._

" **Iron Dragon's Hard Fist!** " Gajeel shouted as he jumped and drew back his fist.

" **Focus Punch!** " Rex shouted and then intercepted the attack, the shockwave generated from the two attacks clashing being even more powerful than the kick that Gajeel had attempted on Starmie. If they weren't on the ground then they would no doubt have been blown away. Rex stood in his place, setting his feet slightly apart.

Both of them stayed in place and Rex was slowly overpowering Gajeel and managed to push him backwards with a lot of effort. This would have been easier had Rex used it at the start of the fight but Rex didn't expect Gajeel to be this tough of an opponent – a drawn out fight wasn't the last thing on his mind. "I can still fight you, so come one!" Rex challenged.

Morphing his arms into clubs Gajeel began swinging them close up and Rex blocked the first blow normally with his hand and then his body blinked for a second as he slipped out of the way and punched Gajeel in the gut with Drain Punch. The area of impact was lit up with a green glow and some of the damage done was converted to health and restored even more of the damage he had taken.

This was something that Gajeel picked up on as a keen observation of the fairy saw that he was looking a lot healthier compared to a few moments earlier. " **Iron Dragon's Club!** " His left arm fired a black club at Rex who caught it though was being pushed back by the force of the attack and it came to a stop a few doors down.

Arriving within several feet of him, Starmie attempted to fire a close ranged Power Gem but he sensed that the starfish was nearby and took the attack head on, showing no signs of damage. Returning his arm to normal Gajeel smirked in a way that unnerved the pokémon and her body spun slightly as Gajeel dashed forwards and a green seal appeared right in front of Starmie as he used his next Spell.

 _CRRRACKKK!_

Despite not being able to see what had happened the sound made Rex pause and stop dead on the spot and slowing looking up to see the thing that he was dreading the most. "No…" he whispered.

Gajeel picked up on that and he smiled widened, ecstatic at the look on Rex's face. "That's the look I wanna see, horrified and scared. That creature will definitely be seeing stars, hahahaha!" Gajeel laughed.

Standing up, Rex clenched his fists and his look of disbelief turned to anger as he stared at Gajeel and began growling in anger. "You… you… how dare you…" Rex began and almost seem to ignore the next club that was coming this way until he caught it and held it in place one handed – staring right at Gajeel without staring.

"Aww, did I upset you? I feel so bad I have to do it again." Gajeel mocked and turned back to Starmie.

Big mistake as Rex immediately changed into the Flame Plate and then smashed into him with Flame Charge to increase his speed before firing unleashing multiple successive Fire Punches, ignoring that his body was crying out in pain. "I won't forgive you for harming Starmie like that!" Rex shouted and then followed it up with a Blaze Kick right in the gut.

 _What the hell happened? It's like he's a different person all of a sudden!_ Gajeel thought in shock, now wondering what it would take it to put him down permanently.

" **Iron Dragon's Roar!** " Gajeel shouted.

" **Fire Blast!** " Rex roared in response.

To Gajeel's amazement his roar was overpowered with ease and sent back at him as he exploded in a large ball of fire that could be seen from most of Magnolia Town thanks to the trail of smoke that was coming from their fight. A Heat Wave attack followed as waves of fire spread out through the air, alerting anyone who was searching for them to their presence, and Rex didn't pay attention to the fact that Starmie shot a Power Gem – though it was more like a power crackle than a gem.

Seeing the light spreading out in such a pattern made Magmortar stop and his eyes widened in realisation. "Okay, this is not a good thing." He observed out loud.

Mirajane turned back to face him. "Why?"

"Because Gajeel pressed one of his buttons – it involved harming one of his pokémon in a very specific way." Magmortar explained before they started running again towards the fight. The two of them weren't the only ones who were

" **Iron Dragon's-** "

" **FLARE BLITZ!** " Rex shouted and interrupted the attack, pushing on through as he was cloaked with fire and ran Gajeel right into the wall, ignoring the recoil. After falling slightly Gajeel decided to forego Spells and then began wailing on him normally throwing punches that would have normally knocked him out – but the rage of Rex Vermend was too great for him.

They traded more blows with Rex getting in punches and kicks that were imbued with fire, but his lack of care for defending himself was something that Gajeel noted and exploited, as he punched Rex in the leg, throwing him off balance and then upper cut him followed by a right hook that sent Rex barrelling on the ground. Despite this momentary opening Gajeel was panting from the exertion and really could use some iron.

"I won't let a punk like you beat me!" Gajeel shouted as he outstretched his finger towards Rex. " **Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs!** " A magic seal appeared in the air as multiple spears were fired in rapid succession and each of them hit their mark, inflicting multiple cuts and wounds on Rex who tried to hold his ground but was quickly knocked off his feet once more.

"You are not… going to win… not after what you've done…" Rex growled in between breaths and he whole body was covered in white. " **Bide.** " With one word a wide laser containing twice the damage he had taken from the last attack that engulfed Gajeel completely and tore him off of his feet – even using his dragon slaying was not enough.

Once the attack had died down, Gajeel was lying on the floor covered in injuries and slowly made his way back up, the words he was muttering incomprehensible and was forced to go to all fours just to get his sense of balance back. Most of his armour had been stripped off by the Bide and he didn't realise at first.

Rex wasn't fairing much better as he fell forwards from the damage taken, glad to see that he had avenged Starmie but looked up at Gajeel. Moving forwards his body immediately jerked and flopped onto the floor again.

Getting back up on two feet, Gajeel took a step closer only to be cut off by fire coming from another one of the creatures that this guy had and stared at the red and yellow thing in front of him. "What are you…?" He asked.

"Leave now, unless you want to be beaten beyond belief." Magmortar threatened. This wouldn't be his normal way of beating an opponent, this would be slow and cold and Magmortar would save every moment.

"What got him so angry though?" Mirajane asked and it was then she saw his next pokémon, making her gasp in horror.

They were joined shortly by Natsu and his group but when Magmortar turned back he saw that Gajeel was gone, somehow finding the strength to get away from the scene. "What happened?" Erza demanded and took a sharp breath upon seeing the battered and bruised form of Rex having returned to his normal form.

"Gajeel was here, I can smell it!" Natsu growled with narrowed eyes. "Where are you Black Steel?" He then shouted.

"He's probably already gone by now, there's no point in pursuing him Natsu." Gray noted, not happy at all.

Natsu turned to face him. "Are you serious? They've gone too far this time!" He protested.

Lucy smacked him half-heartedly and she pointed towards Rex. "Let it go Natsu… we have to focus on the main problem…" She stated, voice shaking. He looked at her and then slowly set aside his anger.

"What kind of pokémon is that?" Erza asked.

"A Starmie – a water and psychic type. Oh god… no wonder Rex had flipped out." Sceptile noted and paled slightly upon seeing what Gajeel had done to their fellow pokémon.

"We have to take Rex to Porlyusica now. Someone pick Starmie up and get them both to Reedus." Mirajane stated, taking charge to everyone's surprise.

After getting over their surprise at the way she had reacted Erza nodded and then walked over to Starmie, and then picked them up carefully by the body, trying to avoid doing any more damage to the core. It flickered once every couple of minutes but other than that there was no response that came from the Mysterious Pokémon.

* * *

 **Phantom Lord Headquarters**

The inside of the main hall for Phantom Lord was dark and dingy, with most of the light coming from candles on the tables and fires that lay across the area. Most of the Phantom Lord members were having a laugh when word of the destroyed Fairy Tail guild hall reached their ears and were acting rowdy, similar yet different to the members of Fairy Tail.

"Aw man, I wish I could have been there to see Gajeel trash the place! They're probably running and crying back to their mommies!" A hooded member shouted and there was a round of applause.

"Still, where is Gajeel? He shouldn't be taking this long to get back to headquarters." Another member noted. This dark-skinned member was bald and wore a pair of purple glasses indoors, despite the lack of light.

"He's probably picking off a few fairies for his amusement." His partner, a female with a strange looking hat remarked. Glasses guy nodded slowly and took another sip of his beer.

When the Guild Hall door opened there was a roar of approval that quickly echoed throught the area when the shadow of the aforementioned Gajeel came walking in with lots of cheering. But when they got a look at him it took the same amount of time for the noise to die down and disappear completely as they saw that Gajeel had cuts, bruises and burns all over his body.

"What the hell?" Glasses guy noted in a hushed tone.

"It looks like he ran head first into some kind of monster." Hat girl replied as they looked between them.

"Where's Jose?" Gajeel demanded and he drew in deep breaths.

Nobody moved or said anything, so he grabbed the nearest wizard by the collar and dragged him right up to his face. "I said, _where's Jose?_ " He snarled and when he still didn't get an answer punched him through several tables, almost hitting the two wizards who had been talking to each other.

From the shadows, the Master of Phantom Lord appeared on the floor above Gajeel and raised an eyebrow at the beaten up state of his most powerful member of the Guild. An outline of him was visible from the second floor of the Guild and it make him look kind of goofy and creepy at the same time. "What happened Gajeel?" He asked.

"I did what you said, but I thought we weren't tough enough on those fairy scum, so I gave them an extra present and that's when the Multitype wizard came in, and he also had an odd looking starfish amongst other creatures." Gajeel explained gruffly.

Jose took a moment and scratched his chin thoughtfully. After hearing about this new wizard following the attempted assassination by the Eisenwald guild, it certainly perked up his interest in this wizard who out of nowhere was just as powerful as Salamander and now he was around to beat up Gajeel. Not only that but he also had access to some strange creatures too, rumours of a fire creature and a smaller white ferret like creature – needless to say now he certainly wanted to meet him face to face.

"Despite your encounter with this Multitype wizard I want to compliment your work on the Guild, now Makarov will have no choice but to face us! Be sure that no harm comes to _that_ one." Jose spoke up in reply and despite his injuries Gajeel smirked.

* * *

 **Magnolia Hospital – Magic Ward**

To the east of Fiore a there was a large forest that was teeming with all sorts of wildlife, and was home to a former member of the Fairy Tail. A large hollowed out tree indicated the home of Porlyusica, the Medicinal Advisor for the guild and a long-time friend of Makarov. Porlyusica was a tall and slim elderly woman with pink hair tied into a bun with two large pins with a crescent moon-shaped edges. Her attire consisted of a dark green blouse underneath a long crimson cape that had dragon horn decoration on the top of them.

Initially she was very upset at being disturbed but as soon as she heard about the injured wizard she set aside that anger and agreed to help the members who were injured by Gajeel. Porlyusica was guided by the members of the guild to the hospital in Magnolia, which had a special wing for magical related injuries and she immediately got to work, though began comically wacking everyone with her broom and ordered them out.

When morning came there were several members of the Guild and Magmortar who had come around to check on how he was doing – though the heat that he was giving off made it a little stuffy.

"So is he going to be okay?" Erza asked.

Porlyusica sighed as she turned from the unconscious form of his body. "Yes, though it might be some time before he is back to full health, as for this Starmie as you call it… I wish I could say. The damage has seemingly healed itself slightly since you first visited the difference is negligible."

Whilst Rex had been laid out on one of the beds opposite Team Shadow Gear a smaller table had been set up for the Water/Psychic pokémon and it was still an ugly sight. Starmie's main body was unharmed the core was anything but that with a myriad of large cracks across the centre, a few small pieces missing entirely and numerous smaller crack around the edge of the jewel and a few dents in the yellow frame.

"I can… help Starmie." Rex noted quietly and they all turned to face him.

"Did you listen to anything I just said? If you move around like that you're not going to heal!" Porlyusica ranted.

"Mirajane… help me…" Rex requested weakly as he slowly got up and found himself gagging slightly.

"I told you! This is why I hate humans!" She continued ranting.

The healer was then cut off by a glare from Rex as he sat up and Mirajane quickly moved to his side, noting that she had been crying from worry. "Listen, I know what the hell I am doing. Nothing is going to stop me from helping my family understand."

Porlyusica was startled at the look on his face and then grumbled under her breath.

"One, two, **Recover.** " Rex counted and then a green light began enveloping his body and everyone watched as the wounds began fading away – cut sealed themselves, area of swelling began going down at a faster rate then thought possible, and bruises began drastically changing colour. In a few minutes most of the damage had been healed.

Standing up Rex shook slightly and stumbled forwards from the imbalance and Mirajane caught him, his face buried in her chest by accident and everyone who was watching stopped and just stared. A light blush appeared on her face as everyone stared awkwardly at the chest for a few seconds as the serious mood was abruptly cut off and there was a cough coming from Erza.

Rex quickly drew his head up and found himself equally blushing. "I d-didn't mean to do that I'm s-sorry!" He stammered out and then stood up properly, still feeling light headed but able to move without support.

Looking over Starmie he ran a finger over the cracks and felt every one of them, not saying a word whilst he did so and then placed a hand and said, " **Pain Split.** " and then both of them flashed the same colour and sparks ran along both of them, though were larger on Rex's side and he felt himself shaking once the move had died down.

"What did you do?" Lucy asked.

"Have a look for yourself." Rex grinned.

Natsu and Gray got closer and their eyes widened as they saw that a lot of the cracks and breaks on Starmie's core had disappeared greatly. There were still some parts missing though and a single notable crack was still present across the core but the smaller cracks were few and far between – conversely some of Rex's injuries had come back though it wasn't a severe as when they had found him.

"What just happened?" Lucy asked, still baffled.

"I shared the damage between us. Right now we are sitting at equal health but seeing as I have more stamina overall it helped them a lot more than me." Rex explained.

The two boys didn't quite get it at first but Erza simplified it for them. "Rex means that he took some of Starmie's pain in return for some of his health." They jumped and looked at the trainer in surprise, throughout all of this Magmortar remained silent and stared at Rex, with the loof on his face being undecipherable.

All of the commotion prompted Makarov to enter the ward in a slightly different outfit – a white fur lined robe with a medallion on it to represent the fact that he was a member of the Ten Wizard Saints and was looking calm for a moment. "It's good to see you up and walking around my boy. I dread to think about what would have happened had it not been for your pokémon alerting the others of what was going on." Despite the calm tone he spoke in everyone could see that he was holding back his rage.

"Master… what are we going to do now?" Erza asked.

There was a long silence that filled the air as Makarov's anger began manifesting and a golden aura erupted from around his body – showing off some of his full power and making Rex sweat. Whoever was foolish enough to challenge the Master himself would be in for really bad time from the pissed look on his face. "I can take our Guild being destroyed. I can take seeing our beloved home smashed into pieces by a coward. But bringing harm upon my children regardless of where they come from is an inexcusable act! WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO GO TO WAR!" With this statement Makarov broke his cane by accident, making Lucy jump.

The boys grinned at the thought of getting the chance to beat up the members of Phantom Lord as revenge for what had happened recently and Erza nodded seriously and Lucy was sitting at. Once they filed out of the room Rex turned to Magmortar. "Go and take Sceptile with you. Beat as many of them up as you can."

Magmortar's face was stuck between glee and concern. "Really?"

"Yeah, my body still needs to recover so I'm just gonna stick here with Mirajane and Lucy." Rex replied in a flat tone. Both Mirajane and Magmortar exchanged a look but said nothing and he left to go and find the starter pokémon.

 _Phantom Lord… I'm glad that I didn't join them, they're heartless._ Lucy thought, thinking back to when she first met Levy in the guild and then more recently with the Changeling incident. Eventually the remaining wizards headed off back towards the Guild Hall despite Porlyusica's protests as she began swinging her broom in the air.

 **Next Time – Guild War**

* * *

 **So here is the first Phantom Lord chapter – though Changeling will probably be in separate set of side stories and I will work on that hopefully not too soon in the future before this arc ends.**


	10. Guild War

**Recap:** After completing a mission with the other members of the Team Natsu had formed they came home to find the Guild Hall had been trashed with iron pillars and that Phantom Lord were responsible for it. Later on that night after learning about Phantom Lord at Lucy's apartment he ran into Gajeel and rescued Team Shadow Gear, getting into a fight alongside Starmie and after a drawn out brawl won but the core of Starmie was damaged, prompting Makarov to declare war on Phantom.

* * *

 **Chapter 10 – Guild War**

Back at the broken guild hall everyone had left to go and attack Phantom Lord, leaving the group of Lucy, Rex, Mirajane and Starmie. Before they had left the hospital Rex retunred Starmie into their Great Ball despite the protests of the healer Porlyusica, in fact Rex had chosen to completely ignore her as he did so. Once they were at the hall, Rex laid out Starmie on one of the tables and sat down on the table next to them.

"Well this place got abandoned quickly, they didn't even ask for me to join them." Lucy observed, grumbling that last part to herself.

An eerie silence had fallen upon the guild with nobody in there and Mirajane was sitting down next to Rex and saw that he was deep in thought. The events of what Gajeel had done to Starmie kept replaying in his mind from the sound that the impact of the club had made to the expression of crazed delight on the face of Gajeel. _Magmortar was right, I should have used him instead of Starmie for the fight against Gajeel. Their injury is on me._ Rex though, subconsciously running a finger over the injured Starmie.

"So how did Starmie get those injuries?" Mirajane asked and Lucy was also curious about the worried look on his face.

After describing their injuries in detail there was an understandably horrified look on their faces as Rex looked at Starmie. "It's not the fact that Starmie's core was injured that bothers me. What bothers me was that Gajeel intended to hit that spot on purpose. If Starmie and their pre evolved form have their limbs cut off they can regenerate easily, the core on the other hand…"

"What's so bad about damaging the core?" Lucy asked, not liking the answer.

Sure enough it was something that neither of them liked. "It's because the core is also the brain and the mouth of the pokémon, minor damage is fine but what Gajeel did is potentially life threatening." Rex explained and they both sharply drew breath and looked at the heavily injured pokémon again, this time with the full weight of the cracks sinking in.

"So what do we do now?" Lucy asked, shaken slightly.

"Well we do nothing for now and wait for the others to come back, so go out and get some fresh air or something." Rex suggested, neither of the female wizards contending the fact that he wanted to stay with Starmie and turned to look back at Lucy.

"You should probably have a pokémon to accompany you in case Phantom try anything." Rex suggested and then went over the Poké Balls that were on his belt. "Hmm, Zangoose needs to get physical which might not necessarily work, and this one is just overkill, leaving… Crobat, standby for battle!"

Throwing his other plain Poke Ball, a short purple bat like creature appeared in the air and whilst it only looked about a head tall, width wise it was probably wider than everyone except for Makarov when enlarged and Elfman. This next pokémon had two pairs of wings with one smaller than the other and two short claws on the top of the larger wings – the feet were just about visible and it's yellow eyes and mouth stood out.

Crobat then immediately smacked into Rex's shoulder and made him wince. "Take it easy Crobat, I'm heavily injured." Rex pointed out, wincing as he felt the slight stinging sensation.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to harm you!" Crobat apologised and attempted to bow but it looked kind of awkward as his legs were too short.

"A bat?" Lucy cried out in shock and jumped up in the air.

"Aw come on! I'm not scary!" Crobat complained, pouting.

Once Lucy had gotten over the initial shock of seeing such a wide pokémon it took her a while to see that Crobat as he was called wasn't as threatening as he first appeared and was rather subdued and affectionate, at least in how it initially acted. In contrast to how what she heard about Zangoose, he seemed tame and friendly.

"What happened to Starmie?" Crobat asked, suddenly taking note of the damaged core and looking horrified.

"A rival guild by the name of Phantom Lord attacked and everyone else has gone off to one of their strongholds, so have Magmortar and Sceptile. I need you to watch Lucy's back, okay?" Rex summarised.

"I think I got it. Will you be safe without me?" Crobat asked, frowning.

Rex chuckled and leaned back slightly. "Don't worry about me. I still have two pokémon left on hand should I need some more protection." At the mention of the other two pokémon Crobat remained silent and stared at the

Despite this Crobat nodded as he began circling the air and following Lucy behind as they both excited the Guild Hall. The blonde wizard was still a little creeped out by the behaviour of Crobat, she had been expecting it to be creepy and the way that he was acting so friendly certainly wasn't helping his case. "I don't get it… how do you act so friendly like that?"

"By quite literally evolving though high friendship with trainer." Crobat proudly proclaimed and Lucy was stupefied about the answer. That was the last thing she was expecting given the initial appearance of the purple bat. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Uh… n-no! I was just taken off guard that's all." Lucy stuttered for words as she decided to get some groceries done. Not being able to go along to the Phantom Lord guild and pay them back for what they did to Fairy Tail, it was frustrating, but someone had to look after Levy and the others. Looking back on it now it she didn't regret coming to the Fairy Tail guild at all.

* * *

 **Oak Town**

Up northeast in Oak Town lay a branch of the Phantom Lord guild and seeing as it was the nearest one that would be where the members of Fairy Tail were heading. The design of the build made it look like a fortress with stone walls that were topped with railings all around it and was made out of a cold beige stone and the roofing was tiled a turqiouse/green colour. In the centre was a large round tower surrounded by several square towers at the side and a banner on the front that spelled out PHANTOM LORD with a purple ribbon that had the guild emblem printed on it.

Their Guild emblem was a single spirit with a circle surrounded by a line with two spikes that made it look like some sort of spirit – appropriate consider one of their names was the ruler of the spirits. Inside was a large open area with multiple benches and above them were multiple wooden beams that were used to help support the wide central tower. A couple of guys were busy walking to the door and were discussing the events of the past couple days.

"I heard that Gajeel plucked the wings off a couple of fairies." One of them stated.

"Yeah we can't let him have all the fun. Let's beat up a few fairies of our own." Another one stated.

When they got to the door however it was blown off of its hinges and everyone turned to face the explosion and got up from their seats. The smoked cleared to reveal the charge of the fairies lead by a pissed off Natsu. "FAIRY TAIL HAS COME CALLING!" Makarov shouted.

Three columns of Phantom Lord members charged at the members of Fairy Tail head on though because of the fact that they don't have any named members and were all useless mooks most of them were sent flying in the initial clash and a myriad of spells and attacks were flung in the first few minutes from fairy, phantom and pokémon alike.

" **Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!** " " **Ice Make: Lance!** " Natsu and Gray shouted as waves of fire and weapons made of ice spread out over the area they were in. Despite the injuries he sustained on Galuna Island, Gray was still capable of fighting and didn't have his clothes off. Yet.

"Not too shabby matchstick." Gray complimented as they moved up back to back.

"I could say the same about you popsicle." Natsu returned it before dashing forwards and attacking more of the other Phantom Lord members with a Fire Dragon's Roar.

Magmortar was completely surrounded by members of the opposing guild and had an almost bored look on his face as they were all staring in awe at this gigantic fiery beast in front of them. "Are you babies done gawking or will you let me kick your faces into the ground?" He asked in a cocky tone and that enraged the members and they all leaped at him. Not the least bit concerned, his body then let out a wave of fire in every direction from his position that lit him up like a beacon and when the move faded a pile of bodies surrounded him.

"Piece of cake." Magmortar snorted and casually fired off a Thunderbolt to another mook who tried to attack him with a weapon and the electric attack redirected itself to the metal tip and watched as his body lit up before falling to the ground sizzling.

Sceptile was weaving in and out of various members and striking them precisely with Leaf Blade and her sheer speed when not slacking around was a sight to behold and to some of the members of Phantom Lord it looked like this green lizard was moving too fast for them to see. Weapons and wizards alike were not spared and in the space of several seconds had managed to hit several dozen Phantom Lord members.

"You can't even keep up with Sceptile, so don't bother trying it!" Sceptile remarked as she landed next to Magmortar before forming a Focus Blast and firing it off into the other brawlers and a loud blast was heard from the point of impact.

Macao and Wakaba had teamed up face some of the Phantom Lord rabble and then held out hand before using his magic. " **Purple Net!** " he chanted and then a deep purple blue seal appeared as he fired purple fire that took the form of multiple that ensnared multiple opponents. "Now Wakaba!"

"Got it." Wakaba replied and then let out a puff of smoke from his pipe before casting his spell, " **Smoke Crush!** " and then multiple fists made out of smoke began assaulting all of the Phantom members that were caught up by the Purple Flare and then let out another ring of smoke. "It's all in the follow through."

" **Guns Magic:** **Spark Shot!** " Alzack cried out as he then fired multiple bullets towards various mages with a different kind of seal and once they finished appearing were all simultaneously shocked greatly.

Bisca was standing above Alzack and holding a sniper rifle up close, targeting other members as a reticule marked each of them member before she called out, " **Guns Magic: Homing Shot!** " and then they were all hit by a single bullet that struck each and every one of the targeted wizards and she cocked her weapon in triumph. "Getting a little rusty there Al?" She asked.

" **Ring Magic: Twister**!" Loke called out as a tornado appeared in front of him and then sent Phantom members flying across the large open area.

" **Wood-Make: The Distance between the Two is Forever!** " Laki Olietta called out and then slammed her hands into the concrete ground. Using Magic she made a number of wooden hands and feet come out of the ground to send them upwards in the air and they fell down all knocked out.

"What the heck does that even mean?" One of the nearby Phantom members asked in confusion.

Cana was also up front and then drew out three cards with different designs on them. "Lightning, Reverse Tower, Lovers! **Thunderbolt's Fate!** " She called out and then unleashed multiple bolts of lightning on Phantom Lord and they lit up much like Magmortar's Thunderbolt. The large fiery pokémon smirked in appreciation, not worried about accidentally getting hit by it at all and continued using Fire Blast on all who approached him.

Happy was also one of the members who were surrounded. "We can take on the small cat!" one of them called out.

There was a rather dark look on his face as he then said, "Is that what you think?" Before laying a hilariously one sided beatdown using a fish that he held in each of his hands and within several minutes they were all knocked out or damaged heavily with him on top of the pile. "Looks like we know who's on top. Don't you agree?"

"Yessir!" One of them muffled through a fish.

A powerful shockwave rippled through the area along with a pillar of golden light that made everyone turn to see what was going on as a large pressure filled where Makarov was as he suddenly made himself 50 times taller and bulkier and instantly flattening everyone around. "You have hurt this man's children! Do not think the laws of nature can protect you!" His loud, booming voice echoed throughout the area.

"That guy is the Master right?" "He's a monster!" "So are all of his members!"

Laki turned to see a fire spell coming towards her and wasn't in any room to dodge but she didn't need to as Natsu jumped in and then ate all the spell before retaliating with his own Fire Dragon's Roar that was more concentrated at the person who attempted the spell and he was cooked to a crisp.

"If you were a real man you would take me one on one!" Elfman shouted as his right arm transformed from an ordinary arm into a red and green scale arm, fearlessly taking on his group of Phantom members and his strength was enough to blow them away.

"Take over magic? Why would he let someone take over his arm?" The nearest member asked in confusion.

"Guys that's Beast Arm Elfman! He defeats monsters and then takes over their bodies!" His pal cried out in recognition.

More spells fired back and forth amongst the two sides with Bisca using her Wide Shot to hit several hundred regular wizards and Alzack sticking some others to the floor with his Mud Shot spell. A large ice structure rose form the ground and had a lot of spikes on it as Gray slammed his hands into the ground. There was another loud rumble as Master Makarov was making his way to the stairs and began walking up them, any resistance was quickly thrown to the side through the yellow aura that was emanating from the Master.

"Erza!" He called out and then the redhead who was in her Black Wing Armour stopped briefly to turn around and face him "I'm going after Jose! I'll leave the rest of the rabble to you!" he explained and Erza nodded before backhanding someone who tried to sneak up on her.

Swiping her sword in a wide arc she blocked several magical weapons before taking the fight to the offending parties and defeating them with a cross made out of energy. "Tell me, where can I find Gajeel and the Element Four?" Erza shouted above the noise.

Up in the stands of the base Gajeel was quietly observing the fighting from below, having waited since they broke down the doorway and was carefully moving from side to side and getting a good look at what was going on. Seeing the two strange beasts that also belonged to that pathetic Multitype wizard here surprised him though grinned upon seeing that he wasn't in the fray. _Good. With him out our odds of winning got even better._

Looking over towards the stairs his face lit up even more upon seeing that Makarov was making his way up to confront Jose – at least that was what he thought was going to happen. Gajeel didn't want to ruin the surprise and then stated in a low voice, "With the Master out of the way I guess that means it's my turn to join the fray." And with that he jumped down.

* * *

 **Magnolia Town**

Having gotten the groceries she needed, Lucy Heartfilia exited the shop where Crobat was waiting outside and steadily flapping his wings and saw no urgency to do anything. She didn't say anything but let out a sigh she began walking to her house, having decided to return to the Guild Hall once the groceries were in their proper place. It had been a sunny day but the weather then took a drastic turn and it spontaneously started raining, catching both of their attention and looked at each other in confusion.

"Uh… I didn't see any clouds coming in." Crobat stated and was looking around in confusion.

"Drip, drip, drop." A soft female voice intoned, and they saw a pale looking woman with blue haired that was curled into bobs at the end and was wearing a blue hat but covering it up with a pink parasol. Around her neck was a white doll that reminded Crobat of the Banette that were seen in Hoenn as she was walking in a slow, deliberate

"Where did you come from?" A startled Lucy asked.

"Juvia is the rain woman, the rain is always with me. What sort of woman are you?" Juvia asked and it reminded Crobat of the way Starmie talked, making his body shake slightly.

"I'm just a normal woman." Lucy replied nervously, wisely not wanting to give the fact that she was a wizard away.

"I'm a male Crobat." The four-winged pokémon pointed out.

"Could you at least take the rain with you?!" Lucy

They turned and almost a step later the sound of a French/Kalosian accent made them both stop as quite literally a man rose up from the Earth repeating "Non, non, non!" The man was revealed to have green hair that spiked upwards and a thin green pencil moustache, wearing a monocle and dressed in an orange outfit. "Juvia, you must not shy away from ze task at hand!"

"Of course not Monsieur Sol." Juvia replied.

"How many creepy looking people must there be today?" Lucy cried out in fright.

Sol began swaying from side to side and Crobat was hypnotised into following these movements before correcting himself. "My monocle whispers many things to me ma compagne. Eet tells me that zis woman standing before us iz our cible." Monsieur Sol.

 _Cible? That's the word for target if I remember correctly._ Crobat thought and moved in front of Lucy, adopting a scowl on his face. "What do you want with her?"

"Excusez-moi for the poor manners. Allow me to introduce ourselves formally s'il vous plait. I am Monsieur Sol, also known as Sol of ze Earth. Zis woman is Juvia of the Great Sea. We are both members of the Element Four." Sol introduced himself as he swayed from side to side.

"Element Four… you're from Phantom Lord!" Lucy realised and got angry at the mention of their names.

"Oui! Now who is zis? I could not detect you, so I had to get up close and personal. C'est magnifique!" Sol peered closely at this strange purple bat in silence, moving through the earth to get a closer look before moving back and laying down on the right side of his body. "Ah! I see zis iz one of the creatures that Gajeel mentioned, but not ze one he faced." Sol observed.

"Is that so? For something to keep up with Gajeel must mean it has some degree of strength." Juvia observed, keeping an eye on the Crobat.

"Why is Lucy the target?" Crobat asked, the mention of Gajeel getting him excited at the prospect of beating down a member or two of this Element Four and he definitely wanted revenge for the damage done to Starmie.

"Excusez-moi but that would be revealing too much." Monsieur Sol replied with a smirk on his face.

"Run." Crobat ordered before charging straight at Juvia with all of his wings glowing purple as he used Cross Poison, moving at such a speed he was like a purple streak, only to go right through the woman and get splashed for his trouble. Quickly putting on the brakes he whipped around and just stared at the blue haired woman in confusion "What?"

There was an impact where the move had struck but it was just a watery mess instead. "My body is made entirely of water. You cannot harm me." Juvia stated.

"Allow me to clean up zis rodent and complete ze job we were hired to do." Monsieur Sol suggested with a devilish smile on his face.

Crobat bared his fangs and got himself worked up for the incoming fight as he said, "You think it's going to be easy. **Cross Poison!** " he called out and dashed forwards with the same speed as before.

Imagine his surprise then when Sol moved out of the way and was just as fast as he was and sunk right back into the ground before reappearing behind Crobat. " **Sable Dance!** " Sol chanted and a whirlwind of sand whipped up around Crobat who weathered it like it was nothing and then moved forwards with Cross Poison. "C'est impossible! How did that do nothing to you?"

"I'm guessing that was some form of Earth magic, which is all the wonders for me!" Crobat grinned and then turned to fire off a couple of Air Slashes. If he couldn't get Juvia he could at least get one of the Element Four, though having Sol able to sink into the ground and reappear out of anywhere was a problem for him.

"I'm not going to be left out of this fight!" Lucy declared and took out a key, only for her to be surrounded in a bubble of water and found.

"What are you doing to her?" Crobat demanded.

"This is my Water Lock, do not worry for our orders were to bring her to Master Jose alive." Juvia calmly explained without turning to face Crobat.

Crobat puffed up indignantly at the way she was acting and went to charge at her again but was stopped by Sol who jumped out of the earth and delivered a pair of fast kicks to him and then blocked him off with his Sable Dance spell. " **Roche Concerto!** " Sol called out and then rocks began crashing out of the ground and barrelled into Crobat.

"Not rocks!" he cried out and frantically attempted to dodge them. One of them clipped his wing and he spiralled off to the right and into a wall. "Oww…"

Spotting his opportunity, Sol quickly used the same Spell as before and then an array of rock buried Crobat from above as he was left with little time to react to it. At the same time Lucy had completely fallen unconscious as her keys slipped out of her hands and sank to the floor alongside her. "Complete success, oui!" Sol declared cheerfully and didn't bother to look back at the Crobat.

By the time he managed to get out of the pile of rocks, Crobat felt his head aching and tried to look around and understand just what had happened. Then it hit him, and he clutched his head again in realisation. "Lucy!" He called out, noticing the rain had cleared up and rested on the rocks, looking around and not seeing her.

Understanding that they got her, Crobat felt tears well up in his eyes as he felt bad for letting Luc being abducted and began lowering his head and tried to supress the tears in his eyes. _I can't get upset… not when I have to inform Rex of this. But I don't want to make him angry at me either…_ He thought and then startedflying towards the Guild Hall, not going as fast owing to the injuries sustained in his brief struggle.

* * *

 **Oak Town**

Back at Oak Town Gajeel landed on the big sign that had the name of the Guild and the sound of it made everyone stop and turn to see that it had been splintered into two parts. "That's Gajeel!" The member who wore a pair of purple glasses noted.

Nab jumped up and roared "This is for attacking Levy and the others!"

"Don't do it Nab!" Loke cried out but it was too late as Gajeel hit him with his Iron Dragon's Club and dragged him across the floor, ploughing through his other Guild members.

Elfman of all people jumped in with a large purple seal appearing over his transformed arm as he said, " **Beast Arm: Stone Bull!** " A pattern of squares appeared over his arm as it changed completely and was now made out of stone.

Gajeel used another one of his clubs to block the incoming attack and noticed that Elfman was strong enough to avoid being pushed back and was mildly impressed by this. "So you're the famous Elfman? Gotta say I didn't expect you to block my attack." He noted.

"It's because I'm a real man! Want me to prove it to you?" Elfman challenged, unfazed by this remark.

"Can a real man dodge this?" Gajeel smirked.

Several smaller iron clubs shot out from the transformed leg and spread outwards and continued to hit the other members of Phantom Lord and that made Elfman turn to looked at the injured wizards. "Why would you attack them? They're your comrades!"

"Because it would distract you dummy!" Gajeel sneered and then used this moment to ram Elfman with another Iron Dragon's Club from his free arm. The momentary slack of the Take Over wizards arm was enough for him to be sent flying backwards where Natsu then jumped in and then struck a flaming fist on Gajeel who was sent backwards and regained his balance quickly.

"I've never seen anyone land a hit like that on Gajeel!" Glasses noted in surprise.

"I'm taking over from here!" Natsu declared.

Magmortar stepped in close to the fight as well, aiming a cannon at Gajeel. "Wait a second Natsu. I want to pay Gajeel back after what he did to Rex." He declared.

Instead of backing down Natsu's fists were lit up in anger. "No way man! He's a dragon slayer too and I wanna pay him back for wrecking the Guild Hall!" he declared.

"It doesn't matter who fights me, cuz I'm gonna beat the both of you into the ground!" Gajeel declared in a cocky tone.

Elfman was upset at the fact that both of them had gotten in the way of his man to man fight with Gajeel and complained, "You can't just interrupt this manly fight!" his Stone Bull arm still active and ready to get back into the fight.

They both looked in each other's eyes for a second and ignored Elfman until Magmortar eventually budged and grumbled about it. "Alright, but don't lose this fight!" Magmortar spat as the air around him began heating up until it was noticeable to the surrounding wizards and they began moving away from him.

As the two dragon slayers stared down each other the place became quiet and the focus was mostly turned to Natsu and Gajeel, though they kept on their guard in case the fighting started up between the two guilds again. The tension between the two of them was palpable and Gajeel smirked, moving his legs apart slightly. " **Iron Dragon's Club!** " He shouted.

Natsu caught the iron pillar and then surrounded himself with fire and picked up Gajeel, tossing him into the rafters, though Gajeel created a small footblade to stop himself from crashing through any more of the rafters before juming back down at Natsu with increased speed. The salmon haired wizard timed his next flaming punch with perfection and Gajeel was sent flying into the wall, breaking a bench in the process.

"That was an excellent punch Natsu." Erza complimented with a genuine smile.

Gajeel got back up and snorted. "Is that all you got? That tickled."

"It didn't look that way to me." Natsu retorted.

Gajeel replied in the form of kick that floored Natsu and there was a small crater from the impact. "Get up and tell me that it didn't hurt." The Phantom wizard mocked.

Complying, Natsu shot back up completely surrounded by fire "Gladly!" he shouted.

Morphing his arms into clubs Gajeel shifted his legs and then charged forwards and Natsu met it head on, exchanging a few solid blows with each other but neither of them gained the upper hand. The blows were solid and powerful, strong enough to create wind from the two attacks meeting each other as Gajeel then spoke, "Looks like you've got some decent power Salamander. Don't burn out on me!" before plunging a single rod at Natsu.

Like before Natsu caught it though had trouble equalling the force and bean giving up ground as a result though the intense heat was beginning to crumple and melt the iron club, forcing Gajeel to withdraw it and he injured the steaming hand. "Don't tell me that this is all you've got."

"That's just a friendly greeting from a fellow before the warm up." Natsu retorted and they got ready to brawl again.

Charging at each other again Gajeel swung high and got a burning fist in the stomach, though acted like it hadn't hit him and then retaliated with a punch across the face. Flames burst around Natsu's foot and he brought it up shouting, " **Fire Dragon's Talon!** " which managed to lift Gajeel with enough force to send him crashing through several rafters and he propelled himself upwards using his fire and they collided once more in the air.

" **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** " " **Iron Dragon's Club!** " They cast the spells at the same time and a shockwave tore through the air around them and broke several more of the rafters in the process and they began falling down around everyone else.

"All of this caused by the two of them fighting? At this rate they're going to bring the whole place down." Sceptile asked, slightly in awe of this.

"This is what happens when two Dragon Slayers clash." Erza stated.

More shockwaves came from them as they continued fighting in the air before they landed down on the floor where a loud rumble could be heard from further up as Makarov continued his ascent to the top, unleashing his energy and began cracking the walls with his magic. "Now what's going on?" Sceptile asked.

"It's the Giant's Wrath, one of Makarov's spells. Nothing can stop him when he uses it." Nab explained, still nursing his injuries.

"Jose!" Makarov cried out as he found himself at the gates of the entrance into the Master's quarters and then destroyed the doors with a single wave of magic and found that it was empty save for a single chair in which Jose sat.

Jose Porla was wearing a strange looking outfit that made him look like a traditional wizard - a silly hat, bat wings that spread out and a white bobble at the tip of the hat and shoes. He was sitting with his arm folded and acting nonchalantly about the chaos that was taking place in the Guild Hall. "Well hello Makarov, to what do I owe this pleasure? It's been six years since the last time we met and I remember it like it was yesterday."

"Why have you attacked this man's children?" Makarov angrily demanded and with another wave of energy cracked everything in the room, but had Jose actually been there then it would have at the very least done massive damage but he was looking unaffected by the result and his image flickered. "A thought projection? How cowardly."

"Now now, I simply wish to avoid a conflict between two Wizard Saints." Jose explained patiently as an image of Lucy Heartfilia, hand tied behind her back and unconscious appeared in front of him.

Seeing Lucy like this made Makarov stop his current rampage enough to avoid destroying the place. "What? Why Lucy?" He asked.

This made Jose raise an eyebrow in genuine surprise. "She was in your Guild all this time and you didn't know?" he asked and then both images vanished.

Makarov was left stunned for a moment and the area around him suddenly changed into a dead misty gray like setting and then a magic presence suddenly made itself known as a large person wrapped in green clothes and wearing a bandage around his eyes. _Where did he come from? I never sensed him coming!_ Makarov thought in shock.

"So… sad!" The large person said and then two magic circles appeared next to Makarov and cast a spell.

Things were heating up between Natsu and Gajeel, literally, as Natsu unleashed several more fire spells that Gajeel was more than capable of keeping up with him and none of them found their mark as they glared at each other with a snarl on their faces. A loud explosion from above made everyone look up as they sensed something heading their way.

"What's going on?" Loke asked.

Someone fell down from the above and once the dust settled everyone saw that the person was none other than the master of Fairy Tail and his body was a sickly green colour. "Master!" erza called out and was the first one to reach him, followed by Gray and Elfman.

"What's wrong with you Gramps?" Gray asked.

"Didn't… see… him…" Makarov whispered out pathetically.

"Didn't see who?" Erza questioned.

"My… power… all of it…" Makarov wheezed and was twitching slightly.

It took a moment for what had happened to sink in but one of the Phantom mooks finally spoke up and when he did it was at that moment when the tide of the battle turned. "Their master is down… which means that we can win this!" One of them said out loud, prompting the others to agree with them as they got right back to the fighting.

Magmortar and Sceptile were amongst the first ones to react to this as the former opened his cannons and shot out a Fire Blast from each of them in a sweeping motion to get as many as possible and the latter firing consecutive Focus Blasts. "Don't get too confident!" The larger of the two pointed out though felt a bit dampened from what had happened.

"Gi hi, looks like things are going south. Too bad." Gajeel snorted and jumped back up into the rafters, leaving Fairy Tail at the mercy of everyone else.

With the revitalised Phantom Lord, the attacking guild began gaining some more ground and getting more hits in to the various members of the Fairy Tail Guild who were starting to demoralise. Three wizards charged up a separate orb that combined into one and then fired a blast of energy at Cana but was shielded by Macao who took the brunt of the attack. Slowly the members of Fairy Tail were being pushed back as they also had to cover for the injured as well whereas any injured Phantom Lord members would be able to rest easy in their Guild.

Seeing the Master in such a horrible state, the attack on Phantom going sour and all of the injuries that were piling up Erza stood still for a minute before returning to her normal armour and wiping from her eye, now was not the time to cry. "Retreat!" She commanded.

All of the Fairy Tail members nearby stopped to look at her in disbelief. "Did Erza just tell us to retreat?" Loke breathed, dumbfounded.

"We can't win without the Master! We have to retreat!" Erza shouted.

"No way! We can take on these Phantom creeps right here!" Natsu shouted and then swatted one of the Phantom members away.

"Right on Natsu!" Magmortar agreed and fired a Heat Wave in front of him and inflicting the burn status upon a couple of the members as well who then flinched back from the additional damage done by it.

"I can still fight Erza!" Gray protested but stopped when Erza gently took his hands and he was surprised to see that she was shaking slightly. Seeing her act this way made him freak out and realise that it was serious enough to follow her orders and call out to the others, "We need to get out right now!"

More and more of them began falling back, though Natsu and Magmortar were providing cover fire for the rest of them and waves of intense fire blocked off most of the Phantom Lord members from continuing their attack.

"Just like I thought those fairy scum are worthless without their master." Gajeel observed with derision.

"It is because their hearts are filled with sorrow when they retreat. It's… truly tragic as the world has just lost a great wizard!" A voice come out of thin air and the large green clad man who ambushed Makarov appeared right next him in a strange light and tears flowed from the bandage around his eyes.

"Aria! Creepy as ever I see." Gajeel responded, tensing up from is sudden appearance. "Was the mission a success?"

"Yes, the poor Lucy Heartfilia is now captured and held like a poor unfortunate hostage." Aria reported, tears streaming down but not as much as previously.

This caught the attention of both Natsu and Sceptile whose better hearing made them stop and turn up to face Gajeel with a look of disgust on his face "GAJEEL!" Natsu roared out loud and made Happy jump up.

"What's the matter?" Happy asked.

"They somehow captured Lucy." Sceptile added in a calm tone, not looking away from Gajeel and the strange wizard next to him. Happy reacted with a cry of surprise.

Staring Natsu down Gajeel grinned as he said, "We'll settle this one day, Salamander!" before both he and Aria phased away and disappeared into thin air, a multicolour haze where their bodies once were.

Amidst the retreating Fairy Tail members and fire coming from Magmortar Natsu managed to grab one of the members who was unfortunate enough to get close and dragged him out of the hall with Sceptile and Happy following him. Hearing about the tales of Salamander made him shake in fear and beg all the time. "Please don't harm me Salamander!" He begged.

"Don't worry, I won't unless you give me the answers we need. Now where did they take Lucy?" Natsu asked, not looking at him.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" He protested and was on the receiving end of fire.

"Don't gimme that crap otherwise I'll burn you to a crisp." Natsu retorted angrily.

"What does a chargrilled spirit taste like anyway? Sceptile has had this meal before." Sceptile wondered out loud and the image of the meal made her casually smack her lips together. Obviously, this was acting but it was convincing enough for the Phantom Lord member to start panicking despite this.

"Okay! OKAY! I'm not certain but she could be in our headquarters to the north and then slightly to the west! Please don't-!" Whatever he was going to say was cut off when Natsu knocked him out on the head.

As they began running in the direction of the building where Lucy could be Happy turned to Sceptile with a nervous look on his face. "You weren't seriously thinking about that were you?" He asked.

"You're joking right? Sceptile wouldn't dream of it!" Sceptile shot back with an angry look on her face and Happy promptly shut up as they sped up and focused on getting to Lucy as quickly as possible.

* * *

 **Phantom Lord Headquarters**

Lucy Heartfilia jerked up suddenly as she remembered what had happened to her and let out a harsh cry. It was a strange dream where various people she had encountered since joining Fairy Tail had somehow invaded her room including Rex, some of the residents of Galuna Island, Loke, a couple of her spirits, Gray and the one who kidnapped her Juvia. "Where am I?" she asked and then tried to move her hands only to find out that she was tied up and couldn't reach for anyone and all around her was a stone cell with a single archway.

"You're in the Phantom Lord Headquarters my dear." A smooth voice answered, and she looked up to see a silly looking man in a burgundy outfit.

Lucy shuffled backwards slightly upon finally noticing the new person. "Who are you?"

Jose chuckled before answering, "You really don't recognise me?"

Now that she had gotten a bearing of her surroundings she recognised the person before her and backed away slightly from it. "You're Phantom Lord's Master! Why did you kidnap me?" She demanded.

Jose made no effort to deny it and simply dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Indeed, I am the Master of the Phantom Lord guild, Jose Porla. Let's get this misunderstanding out of the way first, this isn't a kidnapping my dear it's a rescue misson." He turned away with a smile on his face. "Depending on your cooperation I'll be willing to treat you like Phantom's esteemed guest instead of a prisoner."

Still not believing this Lucy shot back, "Like I'd ever cooperate with you!" and at that moment a bug crawled on her body making her scream and shake it off of her.

This amused Jose Porla who turned back to face her. "See? You don't want to be locked up in this dingy cell." He reasoned in a calm, patient tone.

"Why are you doing this? Why attack Fairy Tail?"

Jose raised a single eyebrow at this and gave a not so pleasant grin, at least to Lucy. "Why you ask? The destruction of the Guild Hall and the provoking of the Guild was a means to an end." Lucy frowned, still not realising where this was going, and Jose was stuck between amusement and genuine surprise. "You really don't know? Our true goal was the acquisition of a certain someone – that someone being you Miss Lucy."

Now she was starting to feel a bit nervous at this, still not understanding where this was going. "What? But why me?"

Jose's eyes widened slightly with his next answer. "Our target is a wealthy princess such as yourself Lucy – after all what father wouldn't be so concerned about their daughter?" He asked.

If Lucy wasn't scared before then she definitely was now and lowered her head to the floor. There was no way that it could have been him who hired a whole Guild to take her up. "That's not possible… there's no way he'd be this concerned about me now. I'm surprised he remembered me." She admitted in a calm but easily frightened tone. "I'm not ever going back to him. Ever!"

Jose sighed in disappointment. "I suspect that we'd have a problem like this."

Lucy felt her cheeks going red in embarrassment. "I… I need to use the bathroom." She admitted sheepishly.

There was a snort as Jose began laughing out loud. "Really? Do you expect one of the oldest tricks in the book will work?" He asked and set a bucket on the floor.

"I'm supposed to take a dump in a bucket?" Lucy shouted indignantly.

"Heh heh, I'm ready for anything that you may try." Jose replied firmly.

Sighing Lucy got up and move over to the bucket and spread out her legs as she prepared to seemingly actually use it much to Jose's shock. "You're actually serious? I've never met such a disgusting girl!" He growled and turned away before stating, "At least I'll act like a gentleman and avert my eyes."

Turning back proved to be his mistake as Lucy grinned and then kicked Jose right between the legs and in the groin and the reaction was instant as he gasped and then fell over several seconds later clutching both off his hands on the sensitive area. "The reason this is an old trick is because they are work!" Lucy called out and ran towards the window but stopped dead in her tracks.

Looking down she saw that she was maybe at least a minimum of 25-30 stories tall and she felt the wind in her face. A long groan was heard from the Master as he began slowly crawling towards her. "I forgot to mention… this cell is many stories up… and although you got me good… you're not going to get away with that…" Jose growled.

As her eyes moved between the crawling Master and the fast way down her fist clenched up and decided that she wouldn't stick around this place anymore and would not go back to her father and had vowed that much when she set out to join Fairy Tail. Turning around and closing her eyes Lucy took a deep breath and then fell backwards off of the ledge, making Jose turn white and intensify the pain in his groin… somehow.

 _I heard his voice, I know that he's here and coming for me._ Lucy thought before yelling at the top of her lungs, "NAAAAATSUUUUUUU!"

A green blur suddenly caught Lucy from out of the air and she felt her world spiralling around and then crash into something. Once everything came to a halt she opened her eyes to see that Sceptile was digging into her body and hit the wall body first with no signs of injury as she got up and brushed off the injuries like they were nothing, and Natsu and Happy followed shortly behind.

"You came for me…" Lucy whispered, unsure.

"Why wouldn't we?" Sceptile asked and took a look at the Phantom Lord headquarters, a shivering going up her spine.

"How are you?" Happy asked, none of them really reading her mood.

"I'm fine, thank you." Lucy replied in a slightly subdued tone.

"We can get two birds with one stone! Let's storm the headquarters!" Natsu declared.

Both Sceptile and Happy were shocked at such a suggestion. "Are you crazy Natsu? Why are we gonna do that?" Happy asked.

"Isn't it obvious? We gotta get back at them for all of this!" He retorted.

"That's absurd! If we do, then it's us against all of Phantom including the Element Four, Gajeel, and Jose! Sceptile doesn't mind the odds being against her but this reckless! We also don't have the Master remember?" Scepile argued and Happy reluctantly nodded his head in agreement.

During their argument Lucy began tearing up and they only stopped to look at her once she began crying, all of their expressions turning to confusion. "I'm sorry… all of this my fault." Lucy stated.

"Whaddaya mean by that?" Natsu asked, clearly not getting it and Lucy was in too much of a state to reply.

Sceptile coughed awkwardly. "We can deal with this back at the Guild, carry her if you have to but be gentle." She stated.

"Like this?" Natsu asked as he carried Lucy on his back, one arm holding each leg and wrapped her arms around his body and despite this she continued crying out loud and he protested, "What did I do?"

Up in the cell where Lucy had been, Jose was silent for several moments before getting up with a nightmarish purple aura surrounding him and he snarled to reveal his teeth, hat fallen off and hair flowing. "SHE'S MADE ME ANGRY! I WILL SHOW LUCY HEARTFILIA JUST HOW SCARY THE PHANTOM LORD GUILD CAN BE!" Jose roared.

* * *

 **Later**

Back at the Guild Hall, the mood was just like when they had first saw Gajeel's iron pillars sticking out of it only this was much worse as Rex found out from when Crobat finally returned. The news of Lucy's kidnapping sent a shockwave of confusion throughout the guild, but the injured had to come first as they began patching up those who were injured in the raid on Phantom Lord. Rex was sitting on a table with Magmortar looking down at him as he was trying to heal up the wings that were injured, not an easy task considering the wings were twitching.

"If you're going to keep moving like that they'll never heal." Rex scowled and held his hand firmly on Crobat's head.

"Sorry, but those rocks hurt…" Crobat complained.

"Why would they kidnap Lucy though?" Mirajane asked, still not getting this.

"Well there's no sign of Natsu, Happy, or Sceptile so I'm guessing that they found out." Gray noted, seeing none of the aforementioned three and didn't feel any compulsion to take off his clothes at the moment.

Stopping suddenly, Rex turned to the staircase upon hearing something along with Crobat and then everyone saw that Natsu, who was carrying Lucy, come down with the other two and although the tears had dried up, one look at her and anyone could tell that she was crying. Natsu sat her down on a barrel and the silence coming from her was a tip off that something was seriously wrong with her.

"You said that all this was your fault, why?" Sceptile asked.

Lucy looked to see other members of the sharing confused and some curious expressions and felt nervous about telling others about her past and saw that Rex had come over with a calm look on his face. "You can tell us Lucy, there is no reason to be afraid."

Looking up at all of them, it took a moment for her to calm down but one deep breath later she started to open up the other members about her past, slowly at first but the more she talked about it the more confident she became. "My full name is Lucy Heartfilia. The Heartfilia family is one of the richest in Fiore and it owns multiple businesses, but I'm also a runaway. When I was a young girl my mother passed away from an illness and I was just left with my father, but he became cold and distant. I tried to get him to notice me but… he kept on ignoring me and the only friends that I really had were my servants and teachers and raised his voice to tell me that the conversation was over. My mother was also a Celestial Spirit Wizard and I inherited her gold keys – Taurus, Aquarius and Cancer. I left a year ago, but I didn't expect him to notice me this soon."

There was a long pause after she had finished as whispers spread throughout the basement. "You're some rich guys kid and you didn't tell us?" Gray asked and was slightly subdued.

"I couldn't just go around and advertise that fact that I'm the heir now, could I?" Lucy protested, her voice jumping up in volume suddenly.

There was an indecipherable look on Rex and he closed his eyes and thought about for a moment, realising that all of this was because of the fact that her father had decided to go on the path of hiring Phantom instead of coming to Fairy Tail. Clenching he fists tightly he felt all of the anger at Gajeel go away and instead felt it being replaced with a greater anger that as directed towards Lucy's father – the only reason that he didn't was because they were already in conflict with Phantom and wanted to beat them before having a nice chat with her father.

"Lucy… I'm not going to blame you for this because I don't you see as responsible for this." Rex finally spoke up in a calm and collected voice. Despite this reassurance there was one person who knew the real meaning behind his tone and Magmortar took a good long look at him and silent let off a few embers into the air.

"Yeah, it's your father's fault for all of this." Elfman added.

Gray scowled at him, "You idiot! Don't say that!" he berated.

"Uh… I mean it's Phantom's fault." Elfman quickly corrected himself and shook his hands hastily.

"But Lucy's father hired them and that makes him partially responsible." Rex pointed out with a slight edge in his tone that everybody picked up on.

Despite their reassurances Lucy still wasn't totally convinced at this and looked right at the ground. "Maybe I should go back to him and leave the Guild…"

"Why?" This question came from Rex again and she sharply looked upwards at him in shock. "Why would you go back to that place? You're happy to be a part of Fairy Tail, the guild and the apartment you rent is your home – so chin up and don't deny yourself what you clearly enjoy. I'm sure everyone else would agree, right?"

"Yeah!" Natsu agreed suddenly and she turned to face him. "I don't see you as Lucy Heartfilia the heir, you're Lucy of Fairy Tail!" He declared and there was a chorus of agreement from the rest of the Guild.

Most of them agreed to be more accurate, some of the members were busy preparing for Phantom and Wakaba was busy with a crate of round Lacrima and was talking with Macao who had an eyepatch over the left eye that was injured during their raid at Oak Town. "Next time I'm bringing all my Explosive Lacrima!" He called over the noise.

Cana was sitting down within a ring of cards and felt her frustrating rising before she threw the card in her hands up in the air. "I can't get a read on Mystogan!" She cried out loudly.

Mirajane pulled out a Communication Lacrima, a round device with a goldne frame that it, and then an image of Laxus' head appeared in it and he didn't seem impressed by the explanation for what was going on in the guild. "We can't contact Mystogan and Master Makarov is out of the picture, please Laxus we need your help."

Instead of understanding what had happened Laxus chose this moment to laugh callously and proclaim, "Man Makarov is freaking pathetic!" and then there was a sneer on his face. "I don't see how this is remotely my problem, you can take care of yourselves!"

"Please Laxus, we really need your help right now!" Mirajane begged and Rex caught wind of the conversation, turning his head in her direction.

"Considering that this is blondie's fault, I'm not interested. Buuuut… if you make her my personal servant I'll think about it." Laxus replied with a smirk on his face.

Already irritated by the lack of news from Mystogan, this made Cana snap "You are such a pig!"

"Careful, you _really_ don't want to antagonise the guy who could save your butt, do you? Show some respect!" Laxus snarled in retaliation.

The round Lacrima was suddenly whisked off of the table and Rex held it in his hands and looked at Laxus with a glare on his face. "In case you forgot bolt brain, respect is a two-way street. If you want it then show respect to the rest of the guild. If your thick skull can't get that then LEAVE!" He shouted that last part suddenly before throwing it at the wall in a fit of anger, shattering the lacrima into many pieces against the stone wall. The people near him stopped for a moment and glanced nervously at him.

Mirajane was caught off guard but this action and felt herself smiling in spite of what Laxus had just said and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you for defending us like that." She said quietly and felt tears welling up her eyes. "I don't understand how someone can be so cruel in Fairy Tail. I've got to help the guild!"

Rex turned to look at her and felt himself calming down a lot at this, the reason for his calm anger at Lucy's father was obvious to him but with Laxus it was more of something that happened on the spur of the moment and he felt himself frown from embarrassment, face going red slightly. "I'm sorry about breaking the Lacrima, Mira." He apologised, unconsciously moving the hand off his shoulder and holding it, unable to respond to the comment about helping the Guild.

 _What is this feeling? Why does being around Mirajane make me more at peace?_ Rex thought in shock, not knowing that Elfman was watching the two of them.

"Don't worry about it… I probably would have done the same thing." Mirajane admitted sheepishly drying up her eyes with one of her hands.

"They're in looooooove." Happy interrupted. This irritated Rex who smacked the cat out of the air and fell to the ground comically.

Erza was frustrated at the situation. The Master was affected by whatever had attacked him in Oak Town, Phantom was after Lucy and she was the only active S-Class Wizard who was capable of putting up a fight against Jose. _I should have been there with the Master, I could have stopped the attack that made him the way he was._ She thought to herself.

At that moment the room then shook suddenly, and everyone was alert and looking around in a mixture of confusion a fear, the room shaking once more during the silence. Bisca and Alzack came running from above and Bisca stated, "Everyone outside now!"

They all scrambled upwards and spread out to see something that none of them were expecting as the Phantom Lord Headquarters was slowly walking towards them with wooden legs to support them.

"Are you seeing this Wakaba?" Macao asked in amazement.

"It's not the alcohol this time." Wakaba agreed.

"How are we supposed to fight against a translocating Guild?" Laki Olietta asked.

Wakaba turned to face her with a raised eyebrow. "Trans- what now?"

Macao had likewise turned to face her with a baffled look on his face. "I think you meant moving."

Laki pouted and shook her arms in annoyance. "That's what I said!"

Phantom's moving Guild stopped and a large section of the main tower began lowering itself to reveal a long cannon barrel that slowly extended itself out until it was pointing a few feet past their Guild Hall. From a command centre Jose was watching along with four robed members of the guild that were all by a Magic Circle that was connected to the main barrel of the cannon. " **The Magical Convergent Cannon: Jupiter… engage.** " Jose commanded without hesitation.

A strange whine filled the air as large black and purple orb formed in front of the Guild, slightly distorting the space around the edge with the gathering of so much magical energy in one place. Erza was stunned, she nor anybody else was expecting Phantom Lord to go to such drastic actions and quickly snapped out of it and ran forwards. "Get back all of you!" She commanded and dashed forwards towards the water's edge.

"What are you doing?" Natsu shouted, trying to go forwards but was being held back by Gray and Elfman.

"She's not going to stop that, is she?" Macao realised, eyes or eye widening.

They watched Erza requip into a bulky armour with a singular blue chest with several spikes on the shoulder and waist with diamond shaped indents on then and the tops of the foot armour being a dark blue trident end and wings on the side. The only part of Erza that was visible was her face and hair, and her arms had gauntlets that had half an oval shield attached to each one and the shield had spikes sticking out in intervals.

"What are you doing!" Loke shouted.

"Protecting the Guild, so stay back!" Erza replied and she steeled herself.

"What is that?" Rex asked.

"Adamantine Armour. It maximises her defense." Happy replied.

"She's not gonna seriously block the shot is she?!" Wakaba cried out in shock

At that exact moment the cannon fired, parting the water underneath it completely as Erza brought the two halves of the shield together and a large cyan shield that was wider than the blast of the cannon. The area behind her cracked immediately as the beam first made contact and Erza felt her body straining from the immense force of the blow and Rex was the only one to sense a metallic aura about the beam and felt the world spinning, he certainly was not expecting another Plate so soon.

It felt like time had come to a standstill as Erza continued to defend Fairy Tail and her armor began cracking in more and more places with pieces of the armour and the shield began flying off. When the blast finally stop, the force made a crater from where it met Erza's shield head on she was thrown back, almost all of her armour was gone with only piece from the head, shoulder and wrists remaining as she rolled on the ground. A golden flash made her Adamantine Armour vanish.

"ERZA!" Natsu shouted and broke free from the grip of Gray and Elfman and began running towards her alongside them. They gently managed to lift her off of the ground and used Elfman to help support her.

"I can't believe that she managed to stop the Jupiter Cannon." Macao whispered.

"Yeah, but it destroyed her armour." Cana pointed out.

" **Makarov has fallen and now Erza can no longer stand.** " Jose called out to them through the use of magic, causing everyone to look up at the Guild Hall, some of the members were scowling. " **Any hope of victory you had has slipped through your fingers. Give up Lucy Heartfilia immediately, you have no choice.** "

"THERE IS NO WAY THAT IS GONNA HAPPEN JOSE! NOBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD HAND ONE OF OUR OWN TO SOMEONE AS HORRIBLE AS YOU!" Rex shouted and silenced everyone in the Guild. "LUCY IS A MEMBER OF FAIRY TAIL AND THAT'S WHERE SHE'LL STAY!" At this everyone began cheering and shouting alongside him, and this began making Lucy tear up.

Erza found the strength to yell out, "We would never betray her like that! You'd have to kill us first!" and there was another round of cheers.

"YOU CAN STOP ASKING US CUZ OUR ANSWER WON'T CHANGE! WE'LL TAKE EVERY ONE OF YOU JERKS DOWN!" Natsu roared over the commotion.

Seeing all of the members of Fairy Tail defy him like that angered Jose who stood up from the Guild before declaring, " **If that is what you want then you will die along with your pathetic Guild! Have a second helping of Jupiter! You have 15 minutes to ponder the folly of your actions!** "

"Another firing of the Jupiter Cannon? That's not good!" Rex called out, not wanting to think about what would happen if this blast hit the guild.

"No way!" Elfman gasped.

"What are we going to do?" A despondent Cana asked.

It was at that moment that Erza fainted and Elfman then handed her to Mirajane who move her away from the front of the area and into the Guild Hall. As downstairs was not an option the unconscious Erza was laid carefully on the nearest table she could find and right next to it was a mostly boarded up hole.

At that moment numerous things began to fly out from the various windows of the moving Phantom Lord Guild, upon closer inspection they looked vaguely human with dark purple Phantom robes, red eyes and black arms with claws on them. " **You're in the quite the quandary, Fairy Tail. There is only two ways that this can go down – either you get blown away by Jupiter in 15 minutes or my soldiers will tear the life force from you.** " Jose explained.

"But if he fires on us then he'll take out his own men too!" Macao pointed out in.

"Surely he's bluffing, would he really do that?" Wakaba laughed in a fake tone.

Cana knew the answer though and looked right at the Jupiter cannon. "No, he's going to fire on them." She answered and they both stared at her in disbelief as she continued to explain, "Those phantom soldiers are made out of Shade Magic and are Jose's personal army."

"You mean they're ghosts?" Alzack asked.

Turning to Cana, Natsu asked, "So I've just got to stop Jupiter from firing?" He asked, and she nodded in confirmation. Natsu's face lit up with a grin as he began to run towards the Guild Hall and called out, "Let's go Happy!"

"Aye!"

"Go along with Natsu, your speed is going to be helpful here. Magmortar, defend the Guild." Rex told Crobat who looked reluctant for a moment but nodded and then began flying in their direction, catching up with them in a matter of seconds.

"How fast is that pokémon?" Elfman asked, blinking in surprise.

"Crobat? He's the fastest normal pokémon on the team. When he decides to go all out with his speed there are few who can match him." Rex grinned and then looked at the incoming Phantom members.

"What are you standing around for? You can go and infiltrate the moving guild hall." Magmortar pointed out to Rex as a Thunderbolt fired from his left cannon.

"Sceptile is coming along too, she would be much more useful against the Phantom wizards in there." The starter noted and looked at Rex, tapping her neck subtly to avoid being picked up by anyone else and he nodded in response

The two of them began to run towards the guild hall accompanied by Elfman with Gray leading despite the swarm of shades overhead they made it down into the carved-out hole and once at the edge Gray got into his usual stance and placed both of his hands on the floor as he said, " **Ice-Make: Stairs!** " and a trail of steps leading into the bottom of the Phantom Lord guild appeared in front of them.

Opening the barrels of both of his cannons Magmortar fired a Heat Wave over a large area in front that hit a lot of the shades, and the light from the fire destroyed them only to see that they had reformed several seconds later like nothing had happened. "This is gonna be hard." He remarked and then shot a Thunderbolt at one who was close to him and it blew up after being shocked, once again reforming a few second later.

Fighting began to push them back to the One of them passed through Wakaba who felt his whole body go colder and shook slightly. "Why do I feel so weak?" he asked

"Just don't let them touch you!" Loke shouted as he one of his rings to defeat several shades at once.

At the back of the group, Lucy had stopped crying over the fact that everyone still wanted her and Mirajane suddenly took her hand, Reedus standing beside her. "What are you doing?" Lucy asked.

"Taking you to someplace safe." Mirajane replied.

"What? But I want to fight! Besides, this is happening because of me I won't just abandon my friends." Lucy countered.

"Lucy… I don't see you as responsible for this and neither does anyone else, but we're doing this tor protect you." Mirajane explained, her steadfast expression not changing.

They jumped as a Thunderbolt ripped through the air and Magmortar huddled over, having heard the conversation before turning to Lucy. "Considering that Phantom Lord are after you, it's best if you should go with Mirajane. Besides, do you even have your keys on hand?"

Struggling for a moment when she checked her waist the realisation came about that they must have dropped when Lucy was kidnapped by the strange rain women and she let out a small groan. "No… they must have slipped out when I was kidnapped." Lucy spoke up quietly and decided to go along with it.

Reedus was already painting something on his massive body and puff of smoke revealed a boar like creature drawing a carriage appeared and Lucy climbed into the back of the carriage as Reedus got onto the front, ready to start.

"Take her to the safehouse." Mirajane stated and then the carriage began moving as Magmortar started to push back at the numerous shades in the air. Turning back to face the battle in front of them her fists were balled, seeing everyone fight and not being able to help her comrades out wasn't right. Walking forwards she began to transform and her face then looked like that of Lucy, and several nearby wizards turned to stare at her.

Over at the cannon, Natsu was already there and Happy let go of him with a fireball above his head he launched it at the surface of the cannon where it did absolutely nothing to it. "Come on! **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** " He shouted and began punching at it several times with similar results.

" **Cross Poison!** " Crobat called out and formed a purple X in front of him and fired at the cannon but it was too tough even for him.

"Not even a scratch…" Happy said out loud.

Crobat settled down on the cannon and scratched his head with a claw. "If we can't get it from the outside then I guess we should destroy it from the inside." She suggested and then began flying back and turning to go into the barrel of the cannon which was huge and that was making Crobat feel nervous. Since Jose was more than willing to fire the Jupiter Cannon, the damage done by a barrel of this size was something that he was trying not to think about.

"Why such a large barrel?" Crobat asked, confused.

"The Jupiter Cannon fires large magical blasts of energy, so it takes a long time to charge up." Happy explained.

 ** _11 Minutes until the Jupiter Cannon fires._** They got at the end and were greeted with this message. Looking around a gigantic grey lacrima was in the middle and around the edge were four smaller lacrima of different colours hooked up by some sort of machinery though they were exposed and all five of the lacrima were glowing.

"This should be an easy job, destroying the Lacrima will be a piece of cake." Natsu grinned.

"That's awfully confident, don't you think?" A voice asked from below.

Looking down they saw a young man with two toned black and white hair done up in ponytail with knot at the top. There were three black markings across his face, one of them on his nose and other two on his cheeks and his clothing was very much like a ninja with red gi that sported reddish fur around the collar and fishnets on his arms accompanied by black pants that were tucked in boots. On his back was a katana.

"You're one of the whatchamacallit five!" Natsu declared.

Happy was far from impressed as he cried out, " _Element Four!_ Geez, how do you fail to get the number correct!"

"Yes, I am Totmaru of the Element Four and all fire bends to my will." Totomaru officialy introduced himself, crossing his arms.

"So I guess that means I gotta beat you!" Natsu challenged as his fists were on fire.

Crobat moved in front of Natsu and he spread out his wings to block him and said, "Wait up. Look at the cannon area – we can do this through two ways. Either we destroy the gigantic lacrima in the centre or destroy the smaller Lacrima." He explained and Totomaru looked at him with some concern.

 _Gajeel and other members of the Element Four told me about some strange looking monsters, but now seeing one of them up close… they don't look threatening._ Totomaru decided and let out a soft snort of derision.

"We came here to stop the cannon and this guy is in the way!" Natsu shouted and charged past Crobat with a flaming fist, getting closer and closer to Totomaru until he seemed to just do nothing as his own fist smacked into himself.

"This is why I said to think it through you idiot!" Crobat shouted as he got up.

 ** _10 Minutes until the Jupiter Cannon fires._**

"I didn't do that it just moved by itself!" Natsu shot back and then charged forwards once more only for Totomaru to just blink once and the fist once again smacked himself into the nearby wall.

"It would appear that you're getting in your own way." Totomaru observed.

Crobat had had enough of this and then decided to charge at Totomaru as well with Cross Poison and was surprised to see that he reacted in time to jump up to a wall and off of it. His larger wings then shone a bright white colour as Crobat fired an Air Slash and blades made of wind curved towards Totomaru who then jumped into the air and dodged all of them too.

" **Fire Dragon's Roar!** " Natsu shouted and unleashed a blast of flames at them.

Reaching out hands, Totomaru smirked as an orange seal appeared in the air and the fire was diverted towards Crobat who turned and then began flying away from the fire, diving down underneath the large lacrima and not looking back as he could feel the flames behind him. Crobat wasn't too worried as he pulled up and performed a barrel roll around one of the smaller lacrima and watched as the fire smashed into it and began making Totomaru panic.

It was revealed to have damaged the support enough for it to spark and then crash down to the floor, cracking the red orb and it broke apart completely. There was a moment of silence as a voice rang out across the room. **_Alert! One of the lacrimal orbs has stopped working, recalculation of charge up time now an estimated 12 minutes 34 seconds._**

From the command centre, Jose was surprised by this turn of events and then opened his eyes in surprise. "How was that possible?"

"Intense heat was applied to the support for the Charge Lacrima, though the intended target was one of the intruders." Came the reply from the assistant who replayed the footage, slowing things down slightly so that Jose could comprehend what had happened.

 _That thing, another beast belonging to the Multitype wizard._ Jose mused with some concern, this person was surprising him in more ways than one.

"Since he can control fire, that would make your Dragon Slaying magic ineffective. I could take him on whilst you focus on the smaller Charge Lacrima." Crobat suggested.

Natsu turned towards him with a look of irritation on his face before shouting, "What's that supposed to mean? Are you calling me weak?"

Crobat shook his head urgently and tried to explain himself, "Our goal was to destroy the cannon, so that's what we need to do! Think about what would happen to the guild if that thing fires!"

Natsu stopped for a moment to look at Totomaru who had a smug look on his face in spite of the fact that one of the lacrima powering the cannon was out of commission and then growled, eventually accepting the fact. "Fine, but once I've finished with the lacrimal I'm joining the fight!" He demanded.

"Done." Crobat replied tensely before dashing towards Totomaru to engage him in combat and then watched as a blast of red fire at the purple pokémon who avoided it as he continued getting closer to Totomaru who switched to melee and jumped in the air to avoid the purple blur appearing in the air to strike Natsu but was then struck by a purple cross and then knocked off course and turned, drawing his katana.

Blades of air began arcing towards Totomaru as he unsheathed his katana and began slicing at the air, managing to break the Air Slash and jumped forwards to attack, intercept another Cross Poison and being held back by it. Behind them, Natsu was picked up by Happy and flew to the blue lacrima orb with the dragon slayer grumbling at the fact that he wasn't able to fight the Element Four member.

"Stupid pokémon making sense…" he muttered quietly before drawing in his breath and then using his Fire Dragon Roar on the supporting structure. It was the wrong choice as Totomaru stopped to try and use his fire magic to control the flames and attack Crobat from behind, creating an explosion.

"Try something different!" A dazed Crobat shouted and a katana slashed at his wing and was sent down into the ground. Unlike Sol there wasn't anything for Crobat to worry about aside from the time limit running out.

Once he regained his sense of balance Crobat looked up and saw that Totomaru was closing in on Natsu and then formed a ring of smaller yellow orbs that spread out and disappeared when they touched Totomaru. The Phantom wizard stopped and blinked for a moment before freaking out at what was seemingly happening around him and then swiped out at the air and ended up hitting nothing.

" **Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!** " Natsu shouted and then Happy lawnched him through the support of the second lacrimal and the orb fell down on the floor, shattering into pieces.

 ** _Another lacrimal orb has fallen. The charge time is now 15 minutes._**

"What's going on?! Why is this happening?!" A confused Totomaru called out in shock and his next attempt also failed as he crashed into the wall and was hurting himself in the process.

"What did you do to him?" Happy asked.

"Used Confuse Ray to confuse him, Totomaru is seeing a different reality and may end up hurting himself or he'll attack like normal. It isn't a move that I like to use very often but it has saved my bacon on more than one occasion." Crobat admitted, looking at Totomaru with a slight look of sympathy on his face.

Natsu saw this as a free hit and rushed back into the fray with a flaming fist and then jumped up towards Totomaru. " **Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!** " He shouted and then punched Totomaru in the face, separating him from his katana which arced up and then came right back down, piercing the gigantic grey lacrima.

Getting up he came to his sense and saw what had happened, and snorted upon seeing that the katana had pierced the lacrimal in the centre. "You can't stop the Jupiter Cannon by using my katana." Totomaru declared before spreading out his hands and a magic seal appeared in the air. " **Blue Fire**!" He called and then a wave of blue flames shout out at Natsu, having broken out of the confusion status.

"Dontcha know that fire won't work!" Natsu called out and then began eating the flames though once he was finished there was a slight grimace on his face. "Oh man, I never expected them to taste so cold!"

"Yes, my type of Fire Magic is known as Rainbow Fire and it's much more varied than your Dragon Slaying Magic." Totomaru pointed out and smirked.

"How do you plan to combat both of us? I'm too fast for you to catch up." Crobat asked.

The smirk was replaced with a brief look of confusion on Totomaru before he let out a small chuckle of amusement at this statement before replying, "Consider that I managed to hit you before I don't see how you could outspeed me now. I'll just simply redirect the fire to hit you."

Crobat didn't say anything else, not wanting to give away his speed to the Phantom wizard but instead turned to Natsu and said, "Take care of this clown!"

This declaration irritated Totomaru who quickly slipped back into his confident face. "You really think that you can take me on your own? Neither of us are going to held the advantage, you'll eat my fire and I'll simply redirect it at the purple bat."

" **Fire Dragon's…** " Natsu began, and Totomaru prepared himself for, "Spit!" Anything but that as Natsu began firing wads of saliva at the Phantom Wizard who just stood there as it splashed over him, completely taken by surprise and Natsu began laughing.

Growling, Totomaru spread out his hands and a deep red seal appeared. "If that's how you want to play it then take this! **Orange Fire!** " He called out and shot a ball of orange flames towards Natsu.

Grinning he began to eat the fire though within seconds regretted his decision and began coughing and then expelling the fire, soon afterwards. "NASTY! That's the second grossest fire I've ever tasted!"

This earned a laugh from Totomaru who then stated, "Horrible, isn't it? It tastes like a mouldy rag that has absorbed spoiled milk."

"That was a cheap trick!" Natsu growled and began butting heads with Totomaru.

"Spitting on me wasn't?" Totomaru retorted.

 ** _Warning! An unknown substance is currently interfering with the remaining Charge Lacrima, in approximately 5 minutes the support from the other two orbs will be cut off and no more charge will be sent into the Lacrima._**

From the control room, Jose let out a growl of frustration and turned to the other wizards in his room. "What is the status of the Jupiter Cannon?" He demanded.

One of the assistants replied nervously, "W-we are currently at 63% charge. This is insufficient to wipe out Fairy Tail but will still do significant damage if it strikes the Guild Hall. Any extra charge will not make a difference."

An evil grin spread across Jose upon hearing the news, taking delight at the news of dealing a still major blow to the Guild. "Fire."

 ** _The Jupiter cannon will fire in 3 minutes at 63% power. Repeat, the Jupiter cannon will fire in 3 minutes at 63% power._**

This message rang throughout the cannon room and Crobat and Natsu paused to look as the large grey lacrimal began glowing in preparation and began focusing the energy. Above the lacrima was a giant countdown timer that quickly rearrange itself so that the hand was pointed at the V numeral. "Oh come on! I destroyed it all!" Crobat complained.

"It's not at full power so it shouldn't hurt anyone right?" Natsu asked.

Happy shook his head before replying, "Even when not at full power the Jupiter Cannon can still do a lot of damage!"

Turning back to face Totomaru, Croat shot off with Cross Poison and before the Phantom wizard even had time to react was struck with such force he was flung into the wall and was unable to move for a few seconds before jumping forwards and then shot out another Orange Fire spell towards Crobat.

Jumping up towards Totomaru, Natsu unleashed a blast of fire that ripped through the orange coloured flames and found themselves redirect towards Crobat who briefly appeared for a moment before flying away again. Looking around Totomaru tried to find him and could only see the occasional purple blur in the air and tried to redirect the flames towards the strange four winged beast but missed each time.

Not forgetting Natsu, Totomaru saw him out of the corner of his eye and jumped into the air. "I don't just rely on my fire magic you know." He informed as he moved around Natsu and then kicked him away across the room.

Natsu growled in annoyance and then charged forwards with his fists outstretched and on fire, ignoring the protests of Happy who had started to panic at what would happen if the Jupiter Cannon still fired. "How many times have I told you?" Totomaru stated and then made Natsu hit himself, only for the flame to intensify and spread out, burning Totomaru in the process.

A purple and black orb then hit him from behind and the effect activated as the Phantom wizards was surrounded by a blue area briefly. "How did you do that?" Totomaru asked, having ignored the fact that his special defence had dropped.

"I expanded my range of flames so that it would shoot out and hurt you." Natsu replied gleefully.

"That isn't possible!" Totomaru retorted and wondered if this was what Dragon Slaying Magic was capable of or if it was something that he learnt in the midst of battle and then tried to hit him again, but jumped quickly backwards to avoid being hit with a blade of air that tore through the ground.

 ** _One minute remaining until Jupiter fires. 59… 58… 57… 56… 55…_**

"The only one who is allowed to move my own flames is me you got that?!" Natsu shouted and continued to shoot our bursts of flames that Totomaru deflected and attempted to shoot back with his Orange Fire spell.

Once Natsu rocketed out of the way using his fire and was promptly brought back down by the Element Four. In the air, Crobat was studying the katana and trying to angle his next move correctly.

"Can't you just smack it and be done with it?" Happy asked.

"This has to be done correctly Happy otherwise I'll miss and hit the lacrimal and I think a magic lacrima would not break that easily." Crobat pointed out with a frown on his face.

"What about that move you just used on the other lacrima?" Happy asked.

"Yeah, but given the size and density of the gigantic lacrima it could take hours and we don't have that time." Crobat replied and upon looking deeper he saw something that was obscured by light that the lacrima was emitting.

Natsu held his hands up above his head and then a wave of fire began forming in them, to which Totomaru scoffed and got ready to redirect it with a smirk on his face and watched as the rains of the fire got bigger and bigger, eventually the ring of fire was larger than the two of them combined. This was making Totomaru sweat as he realised that the fire was unable to be controlled despite him trying and focusing more than he previously had to and took a step backwards in realisation.

 ** _34… 33… 32… 31… 30…_** The voice droned overhead though it was overridden by the roar of Natsu.

Firing it forwards, Totomaru dodged out of the way. "Even if you can overcome my fire control you still can't hit me!" He pointed out.

 ** _15… 14… 13… 12… 11… 10…_**

The fire flew up into the air and shaped itself into a fist before arcing back down seemingly towards Crobat and Happy who flew from it out of fear and then both of them noticed that it was coming down upon the katana that was lodged within the lacrima and another genuine look of fear crossed Totomaru.

 ** _5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Firing Jupiter Cannon._**

At the same time the timer reached zero the glow of the cannon lacrimal intensified and the cracks spread out across the lacrimal surface before it shattered in the nick of the time and then crashed apart onto the floor, breaking into large chunks and making the room shake from the impact. Something else fell onto the floor and the odd light coming from the barrel of the cannon dissipated as quickly as it came. They had saved Fairy Tail and by extension Magnolia form being devastated by the Jupiter Cannon and put one of Phantom Lords weapons out of commission much to the anger of Jose.

 **Next Time - Elemental Brawl**

* * *

 **So I want know what some of you think about the chapters. It's great that you're all following me but I really would like to know if this is an improvement over the original version of this story. It doesn't have to be monolithic but some feedback would be nice.**


	11. Elemental Brawl

**Recap:** After waking up he found himself in Magnolia's hospital where Natsu's team and Mirajane were at with Makarov promptly declaring war on Phantom Lord and leaving with most of the Guild. Whilst they were out Lucy was kidnapped by two of the Element Four and despite Crobat trying to stop it was buried under a pile of rocks, though Natsu managed to rescue Lucy. After the raid on Phantom soured, Lucy revealed her history to everyone and they then went outside to see their headquarters moving across the lake. Erza blocked the first shot from Jupiter and with the help of Crobat destroyed the cannon from the inside and one of the Element Four.

* * *

 **Chapter 11 - Elemental Brawl**

From the control room, Jose watched in shock as the main lacrima in the Jupiter Cannon split apart thanks to Totomaru's katana before shattering into large pieces and falling on the floor. A secondary view from outside showed that the magical blast of energy that had been gathering had now dissipated and a look of fury crossed his face. "Those pests have only earned themselves a brief respite - activate the Giant!"

"Yes sir! Super Mage Giant Phantom Mark II will activate in 30 seconds, initialising transformation!"

Outside everyone was watching as the large orb of energy was forming and there was a moment of silence as it looked like Jupiter was going to fire - only for it to fizzle out and disappear instead. "We're still in this! Natsu must have destroyed the cannon!" Magmortar called out and there was a round of cheers that came from the Fairy Tail guild that was cut off by a blast of fire.

"That doesn't mean we can just give up and stop, we need to keep these shades away from us!" Cana called out and everyone who was still fighting could nod. Spells and moves started firing out from the wizards/pokemon to further push back the shades, with Wakaba using his explosive lacrima to get small groups of shades.

Loke had just finished off some of them with his magic and then felt something was up and looked in the direction of where Lucy had been taken off too. _There's going to be trouble, I know it._ He thought and then began running off.

"Where are you going?" Macao asked suddenly.

"To check up on Lucy! I got a bad feeling that she might need my help!" Loke shouted back.

"What does he think he's doing, leaving us like this!" Magmortar grunted, blasting several shades with Thunderbolt and then watching them form again.

"We gotta let him do it though, whenever Loke has a bad feeling or suspicion it's always true." Laki pointed out and ran from a shade that got too close for comfort, said shade was blasted away by Macao who could still use his Purple Fire despite being injured in the raid at Oak Town. Despite this reassurance the red pokémon was still not happy about Loke moving away as it meant one less person on the battlefield.

Inside the cannon everyone was watching the gigantic lacrima shatter on the ground and said nothing as it broke apart, with Totomaru's mouth open in shock from the fact that the Fairy Tail guild had destroyed the Jupiter Cannon. With the destruction of the main cannon there was a large blast throughout the area and the wall where the barrel was had collapsed, causing some structural damage to the room. But something else got the attention of everyone was the fact that a large metallic grey coloured object could be made out.

"What is that? Was it in the Jupiter Cannon?" Totomaru asked, dumbfounded.

"It's giving off this strange energy." Natsu frowned and let out a frustrated groan before smacking his head against the wall. "Why is it so familiar?"

Swooping down closer, Crobat's eyes widened in realization of what this was. "That's because it's the Iron Plate – one of the types for Rex was in this Jupiter Cannon!" He called out.

Totomaru didn't understand what was going on and could only understand that whatever this Plate thing or whatever it was supposed to be was linked to Rex and then the whole room began shaking. "He's activating it now? But there is no horizontal stabilization here!"

"Say what now?" Crobat asked, frowning in confusion.

Outside the four pillars spilt apart and then the Guild began transforming with various parts of the guild hall moving in different directions – this caused plenty of chaos for the Phantom wizards that were stuck in the awkward place of those moving sections. They were helped up by others who began climbing as the changes were made as the Fairy Tail members stopped to look at the scene before them, which was good because the shades had also stopped attacking them as well, giving them a brief respite.

"It's Phantom's Giant!" Loke called out.

The area that Natsu was in then started shaking even more as it began rotating and was having a bit of trouble, causing Natsu and Totomaru to start slipping. "Hey now, what's going on?" Natsu called out.

Despite not having a solid footing as well Totomaru was ecstatic about what was going on. "You Fairy Tail fools are through now that Master Jose is using the giant!" He proudly declared before seeing that Natsu was motion sick and his jaw dropped in disbelief.

Now that the transformation was completed the Phantom Lord guild looked nothing like it had previously, being several times taller than their own guild from top to bottom. The appearance was akin to that of a robot with more mechanical parts and the ground on which the Headquarters had originally stood upon was no more. At the top was a head with a large spike at the top and two other poking out diagonally and two glowing red eyes appeared.

The central hallway was now at the waist and two hands appeared, large purple orbs with three fingers on them with smooth arms that one could walk upon if angled correctly and the shoulders were made up of the roof of Phantom's headquarters.

" **Kneel before me you detestable brats or face the wrath of my Giant! Savour the last moments of your pathetic lives!** " Jose shouted and his voice echoed throughout Magnolia Town.

Various members of the Fairy Tail were shocked at the transformation with Magmortar stunned silent and jaw open. "No way! I don't believe this!" Cana shouted.

"…that is something… you don't see… everyday…" A voice droned on and they all turned to see that Starmie was moving forwards.

"I don't think that you should be moving considering your core got cracked." Magmortar scowled and opened his cannon.

"Maybe, but I'm feeling… better now. So what did I miss?" Starmie asked, shrugging off the threat of being blasted with the cannon. None of the mages knew whether they were scared, if they weren't then it was certainly impressive.

"We'll get you up to speed shortly. Right now, fight off these purple shades and hope the others inside can stop Phantom." Magmortar replied and the cannon relaxed, turning back to face the Giant Mage before them.

It took a step closer and the area shook despite being in the water and some of the Fairy Tail members who had been moving around nearly fell to the floor. "Speaking of the giant, if it can move then won't that give Natsu…" Macao began.

"…motion sickness." Everyone finished and let out a large groan, even Magmortar could resist letting out an audible groan of frustration at this.

Back in the cannon Totomaru was still surprised at this and as in exasperation, "What kind of weakness is motion sickness?" before his tone changed to a more serious one as something had just occurred to him there and then, "Wait… if you suffer from motion sickness then that means you're in no position to eat fire!"

"Come on, get back up!" Happy called out, pushing Natsu by the shoulder.

Crobat flew in between them and bared his fangs as he declared, "You've got me go through first!"

An unfriendly smirk appeared on Totomaru's face as he moved both of his arms in a semi -ircle and a ring of fire appeared behind, looping around in the colours of the rainbow twice. "My Rainbow Fire isn't going to be that easy to endure! You really think that you can handle several different effects all at once?!" Totomaru shouted, getting louder and the flames intensified for a moment. Crobat began to sweat at this prospect – if the orange fire was supposed to smell nasty then who knows what other effects the remaining coloured fires could have.

"Prepare yourselves, beast!" Totomaru shouted and then looked down upon seeing his arms being covered in ice that eventually froze him up completely.

"You're not a man…" A baritone voice spoke up before Elfman delivered a powerful uppercut that sent Totomaru sky high "you're a backward shooting snowflake!"

Whatever Totomaru cried out next was lost on them as the group of Gray, Elfman and Rex had appeared in the cannon room right as it settled down and Gray was scowling at Natsu. "Geez, talk about pathetic. You let your motion sickness stop you from beating him?" Gray asked.

"You're not supposed to get motion sick from the Giant, you're supposed to make it motion sick of you!" Elfman berated, having taken over his arms to be all scaly and lizard like.

Seeing his trainer in here made Crobat forget his worries and he flew right at Rex. "Take it easy Crobat!" Rex cried out, having caught him by the wings to stop the bat from crashing into him as a sign of affection and waited for him to calm down.

"So is this all that's left of the Jupiter Cannon then?" Rex asked, looking around at the damage.

"Aye sir! It was Natsu who destroyed the Jupiter Cannon!" Happy replied.

Despite scowling at his motion sickness Gray couldn't help but smile at that and also took a look at the damage that had been done. "Well, you still did good." He acknowledged.

Running over to the wreckage Rex inhaled sharply and Gray and Elfman ran over. "What is it?" Gray asked, expecting a fight but didn't get a reply. Instead, Rex pointed towards the Iron plate that lay there glowing in the rubble and his body was resonating with a silver aura that matched the colour of the Plate.

"That's not one of those Plate things is it?" Elfman asked.

"It's a lot larger than I thought they were going to be. You could lie down and still have some room to move." Gray said with a raised eyebrow.

Placing a hand on it the Plate reacting instantly and a shining silver light enveloped Rex's whole body and faded to reveal that his hair was a dark grey colour and was in a shorter trimmed style. He wore a black sleeveless suit with cobalt shoulder plates that connected to a silver throat piece that was matched with gray pants and dark red military boots.

"So that's what happens, that is totally cool!" Natsu grinned and then blinked as he realized something. "Hey, this thing's stopped moving, I can move normally again!"

They were interrupted by Rex who donned a set of armour out of nowhere much like Gajeel, though there were even space lines running across it where the parts looked like they were welded together and it joined perfectly with the shoulder plates and the boots had also become armour as well. The only thing that hadn't was his hair.

"I didn't expect that… wait isn't that like Gajeel?" Gray asked.

Looking around and twisting his body, Rex began moving and then realized that his body felt heavier from having this armour and concentrated for a moment. As quickly as it appeared it faded away and then he staggered for a bit as his body felt lighter. "Yeah I suppose."

Crobat peered outside and asked, "So why did the giant stop?" and then flew out to get a better view with Happy. They both saw that a massive magic circle was being drawn and the outermost circle was halfway to completion.

From inside the guild hall Mirajane recognized the spell and it was not good. "That thing is casting the Abyss Break, one of the forbidden spells." She stated.

"What's it doing?" Macao asked.

"It looks like it's inscribing a Magic Circle!" Laki shouted.

"This is bad! A magic circle that big can wipe out the whole town if it's completed!" Loke spoke up in fright.

Both fliers had picked up on it with their ears and then let out a small whimper of anguish before dashing back in and explaining what was going on to the whole group. "Man, we can never seem to catch a break!" Elfman complained.

"What do we do now?!" Natsu shouted.

"I guess we're gonna have to split up… though I'll be going with Natsu. Go back and help Magmortar and the others, I've got someone else in mind to help us out here." Rex explained, though he was looking at Crobat with that last instruction.

Naturally, the pokémon didn't take the news well and began protesting. "What? But I want to fight as well!" Crobat demanded and spread out his wings to show that he was more than capable of doing something like that.

There was a smile from Rex as he replied, "You've done enough already by helping to defeat Totomaru and stop the Jupiter Cannon from wiping out the guild, but you need to support the others. Since those shades are like ghosts, your Shadow Ball is one of the best counters to them. Besides, I already have someone else who would like a shot at them." Seeing as he had a point, Crobat grumbled underneath his breath and then dashed off in a blur.

"Is he alright?" Gray asked.

Rex nodded in response. "Yeah, Crobat worries about me a lot. The only other member to do so as much as him is Magmortar." He replied, the Poké Ball expanded in his hand.

Over at the Guild Hall, Cana was talking to Mirajane about the Abyss Break and Cana asked, "Mira, how long do you think we have until the Giant casts the Abyss Break?"

"At this rate, about 10 minutes. We need to find out what's powering it and shut it down." Mirajane replied, though as she was disguising herself as Lucy it came out in the Celestial wizard's voice.

"Some of our guys are inside the Giant and are looking for the power source, so don't worry."

Mirajane turned to face her. "Someone is in there with Natsu?"

"Yeah, several of the guys went in there. Rex, Gray and Elfman."

Hearing her brother's name made Mirajane gasp audibly. " _Elfman?!_ But we both know that he can't fight properly as he is! It's too dangerous!" She cried out.

Cana looked down at the floor in silence. "…I know that Mirajane but back at Oak Town he was one of our best fighters."

"That was when he was fighting grunts! If he come across the Element Four or Gajeel, then he won't stand a chance!" Mirajane argued, the worry deep inside her making her body run cold.

"Look… I understand why you're worried about that but we all suffered that day too. But this is his way of trying to move forward from that. Let him do it." Cana explained.

Hearing this made Mirajane look up ahead of her and think back to when Rex said the same thing about moving forwards from the past. Though she had tried to access her magic a few times since she opened up a bit towards Rex there was still something that was holding her back and then felt her and briefly thought about Lisanna. She began walking out of the hall and towards the front of the crowd.

"Oh no, Mirajane!" Cana called out and this attracted the attention of several others.

"That's enough! I'm the one you want. I'll surrender to you as long as you stop attacking the Guild!" Mirajane shouted in Lucy's voice, making some of the wizards stopped to look at her in disbelief, hoping that this would buy them enough time for the Guild. _If everyone else is moving on, then so can I!_

Several black and purple orbs appeared to tear through the shades in the air though unlike the other spells that were used on the shades they struggled to reform for whatever reason – likely because of the properties of the Shadow Ball. "What is going on?" Crobat asked, flying down to get a better look.

From the control centre, the assistants looked up at the image of Mirajane and one of them asked, "Is that Lucy?"

Jose didn't even need to think over the question before scowling at the scene and declaring, " **Begone, _imposter_.** " Mirajane froze from the shock of being found out almost instantly and Jose began to laugh. " **Nice try but I knew from the start that Lucy Heartfilia was not there.** "

As the transformation wore off and her head returned to normal, Mirajane began to shake from the fact that her efforts were for naught and couldn't hold back the tears that were escaping her. _I feel so useless… how did he know?_ She thought bitterly.

Cana saw this and then put a warming hand on her shoulder, she was feeling the opposite despite the setback to Mirajane's plan. "Listen, Elfman is a proud member of this Guild too and would never give up without a fight."

A moment later a Magic Seal appeared underneath her and then she was dragged into it and reappeared in the left hand of Phantom's Giant. "MIRA!" Cana yelled out.

" **Did you really think that you could get away with a parlor trick! You can suffer slowly and watch as your friends perish!** " Jose grinned from the control room and watched as Mirajane helplessly struggled to get free from the grip of the Giant.

* * *

 **With Elfman**

Running through one of the hallways to the right side of the guild, Elfman was accompanied by Sceptile and she was jumping from pillar to pillar, hoping to get a better view of the Giant to try and spot a power source of some kind for the Abyss Break. The decision to go with Elfman had been hers alone once Rex explained what was going on.

"As a real man it's my duty to protect Fairy Tail even if it costs me my life!" Elfman shouted as he continued to run down the hallway, stepping on one of the stone slabs that revealed an eye.

Sol erupted from the ground and then bowed to the side, getting their attention and then waving in a mocking fashion, greeting both of them. "Salut." He said in a french accent.

"One of the Element Four." Elfman noted.

"Commen sava! I am Monsieur Sol of ze Element Four." Sol formally introduced himself.

Remembering the name from what Crobat had told him, the blades on Sceptile's arms extended slightly as she glared at him. "That makes you the one who buried Crobat under those rocks when you kidnapped Lucy!" Sceptile accused.

This made Sol stare in curiosity at the starter pokémon and it took him a moment to realise what this unknown creature was talking about for a moment. "Pardon? OH, you must mean ze strange purple bat! Oui, though I attacked only because it was defending ze cible it was fun burying him." He remembered with a twisted grin on his face.

"Enough talking! **Beast Arm: Black Bull!** " Elfman shouted and a mass of light coloured squares appeared all over his right arm and then it grew larger and more muscular and was completely covered in black.

This was something of interest for both of them but for different reasons, with Sceptile slightly curious as to what this sort of Magic would do if it was used on a pokémon and Sol took a more knowing look at Elfman and pretended to be adjusting his monocle. "What is zis? Only your right arm can transform? Interesting, so ze rumors about you are true mon ami." He observed and Elfman sharply inhaled a breath.

Elfman lunged at him but Sol simply merged with the ground and then appeared from behind both of them and made Sceptile reacted instincticvely with a Leaf Blade only to meet thin air. This Sol guy could certainly move about from the looks of it and she started moving around to try and guess where he would come up next.

"Non, non, non!" Sol cried out from below and then jumped up with both hands raised as he said, " **Sable Dance!** " and whipped up a whirlwind of sand from the ground and caught both Sceptile and Elfman in it.

Though she could feel the sand hitting her everywhere Sceptile kept a level head, compared to the different environment she had to face back in Hoenn this felt like a breeze. " **Roche Concerto!** " Sol followed up and then a wave of rocks began assaulting them.

Although Elfman had a hard time creaking through most of the rock Sol watched in amazement as Sceptile's arm leaves began growing with a green energy and slicing through the rock with little to no difficulty. "Sceptile's been breaking rocks since she was a child, you gotta do better than that." She challenged.

"Hmm…" Sol mused about what to do and disappeared in the sand.

"Come out and face me!" Elfman shouted as he began to smash the ground with his Beast Arm in the hopes of getting Sol out of the earth. Though the first attempt failed he decided to do it a few more times and Sol leaped out like a rain drop, his feet briefly detaching from the ground and disappearing again before either of them had a chance.

"This guy is nimble, don't lose focus." Sceptile noted and stood behind Elfman.

" **Platre Sonatra!** " Sol jumped up suddenly and Sceptile lunged forwards only to be caught in a large fist made of plaster and flung against the wall. Elfman also moved forwards to attack but this time Sol ducked and wrapped himself around the taken over arm. "Bonjour." He greeted in an amused tone.

"Get off of me Monsewer Sol!" Elfamn growled as he tried to get Sol off his arm.

"It is Monsieur Sol, nitwit!" Sol growled and then sprung away from the ground with a roundhouse kick at Elfman and was then hit by Sceptile who had recovered from the giant fist and then returned the favour in kind and Sol felt the blade tearing at his orange suit. "Such an ugly beast." He scowled.

"Coming from the guy who's acting like a sadist." Sceptile retorted and realized that it was a weak comeback. Though she used Hone Claws this left her open to being attacked by Sol and he used his Sable Dance to trap Sceptile.

Attempting the same roundhouse kick he had successfully use on Elfman proved to be a mistake for Sol as Sceptile threw a blue orb that exploded in his face and pressed on forward with a Leaf Blade, though this one was with her tail and Sol bounced up in the air. "Hurry up and hit him!"

Despite being hit by a surprisingly powerful kick Elfman was capable of jumping in to land a hit on Sol and carried him further up into the air. "Non, non, non! **Roche Concerto!** " He shouted and then a wave of rocks fell down from above and assisted him in reaching the ground at a faster rate.

Whilst Elfman and Sceptile were busy either dodging the rocks or slicing them apart with Leaf Blade and Sol secured himself in the ground once again, adjusting his monocle slightly and getting a good look at them. "You are very different compared to ze purple beast that I faced. As for you, Monsieur Elfman when you so rudely stepped on me I scanned your memories."

"So?" Elfman asked.

"You had a little sister, did you not?" Sol asked with a smirk on his face and that caused Elfman to freeze slightly.

Despite stopping for a moment Elfman charged forwards shouting, "Shut up!" and Sol countered the blow with a powerful smack to the face. Getting back up he shook off the attack and tried to swing at Sol only for someone Sceptile didn't recognize at first to appear – too small to be Mirajane with short white hair and a dark red dress with a white collar and bow. Elfman froze right in his tracks and stopped, his beast arm having

"What is going on?" Sceptile asked, knowing that the statue had to be made out of Sol's Magic but not the reason that Elfman was freaking out.

Sol waved back and forth with a look of delight on his face. "You are not aware? Zen let me give you a history lesson mon compagne. Ze Strauss family are well renowned for Take Over magic, allowing them to take on the souls of beasts and use that form in battle. Elfman, Mirajane and leetle Lisanna Strauss were all capable of such transformations." Sol began.

 _Lisanna? Oh, she must be the one in the picture that we couldn't identify._ Sceptile thought, remembering the photo in the room Rex was in and had a feeling that this story wasn't going to have a happy ending.

"A few years ago, however, Elfman did something unbelievably stupid and terrifying. When he tried to take over a monster known as the beast… it was too much for him and he was overwhelmed and thus went on a rampage." Sol's smile was sickly sweet, and the desire to attack him began rising up if things carried on as they were. "Poor Lisanna tried to calm him down but ze rage was too strong and now she lies in ze cold cruel earth murdered by ze beast known as big brother Elfman!"

Sceptile knew it and there was a sick feeling in her stomach, not from the tale but the way that Sol relished in the tragedy of it all and using it against Elfman. "It's a good thing then that he is the only who carries that guilt." She calmly stated before dashing forwards and slashing at the statue, making it crumble into several pieces.

Elfman still couldn't move, seeing Lisanna practically die again in front of him made his heart skip a bit, snapping out of his trance once Sceptile waved a claw in front of his face. "What are you…"

"Focus Elfman! Don't let Sol get in your head and mess with your mind!" Sceptile stated.

Turning back to face the green haired man the pokémon then charged forwards with Leaf Blade only to find out that it was a statue that dissolved into sand upon making contact. The real Sol appeared behind Elfman and attacked with Roche Concert, sending up the rocks from directly beneath Elfman.

When he finally regained his senses, Elfman held out his arm and said, " **Beast Arm: Iron Bull!** " and then his arm bulked up like before only this time it was made of metal and then he swung it at Sol, but another statue of Lisanna appeared and he felt himself freeze up for a moment before declaring, "No, it's not real!"

"Oh?" Sol asked, curious before smirking. "You will kill her again?"

To his surprise Elfman punched right through the statue and hit him as well and he scowled and made the statue let out a cry of agony. "How could you do this to me big brother Elf?" Came the light voice of Lisanna, several more statues forming around him.

Watching the scene unfold made Sceptile feel uncomfortable as she moved her head back muttering, "That is seriously creepy."

Dashing forwards, she intended to strike with a Leaf Blade at Sol who pirouetted out of the way before kicking her and then a yellow seal appeared as he called out, " **Platre Sonatra!** " and crushing Sceptile in a fist made of plaster and fired it through the wall, revealing to them that Mirajane was stuck inbetween two of the Giant's fingers.

"How did you get up here?" Sceptile asked as she lifted herself up.

"It was Jose, I tried to buy us some time, but it failed… and now I'm stuck here." Mirajane replied.

Breaking free of the rubble, Sceptile looked back and Elfman and then towards Mirajane before going to help Mirajane, knowing that Elfman could at least fight back as she jumped onto the side and dug her claws into the finger and climbed up and then tried to push apart at the fingers. "Where's Elfman?"

"Fighting Sol, though he's not an easy wizard to hit." Sceptile replied and tried gripping her feet into the ground and pushing as hard as she could but it was no good, the Giant wouldn't budge at all and there was no way that she was going to get through it with brute strength and pressed one of her arms against the material. "Besides, if you get crushed then things are not going to end well."

A swirl of sand battered Elfman as he tried to hit Sol again, though with the Lisanna statues appeared and disappearing he couldn't think as clearly before he shouted, "A real man would face me head on instead of trying to get in my head!"

This sparked something within Sol and he began waving dangerously, narrowing the eye that wasn't hiding behind the monocle. "Are you insinuating that I am not a real man?" He asked, without a hint of amusement in his voice and then wordlessly attacked Elfman from behind with Platre Sonatra and he crashed through outside as well.

"Elfman!" Mirajane called out.

Getting up on one knee he looked on in surprise to see that his older sister was trapped in the grip of the Giant. "Big sis? What are you doing here? How did they get a hold of you?"

"Ahh, now we have the honour of the big sister Mirajane, also know as the She Devil. Once she was one of ze most fearsome wizards around. Now she is nothing but a mere shell of her former zelf, and she has ze foolish idea of deceiving Master Jose and is suffering for it." Sol remarked in false sympathy.

"No… not again… I won't lose you too!" Elfman shouted and got up and spread his whole body out, with Sol looking in amusement as he seemingly recognized this stance. A purple seal appeared underneath his feet and his whole body began vibrating in response to magic.

He wasn't the only one that knew what it was and Mirajane's eyes widened out of fear and she began pleading, "That stance! Don't do it!"

"Why is that such a bad thing?" Sceptile asked.

"Zis is the mark of ze Full Body Take Over. But it has been two years since that was last attempted." Sol replied and then multiple statues of Lisanna appeared and began crowding Elfman. "You don't want to be responsible for the loss of your older sister now would you?"

Different Lisanna statues began speaking up from Elfman saying, "How can you let big sister Mirajane die?" "I thought you loved me big brother Elf." "Why did you have to kill me?" and so on until Elfman was forced out of the transformation and slumped down on to the ground having been worn out from the strain of attempting full take over.

"Elfman! Take Sceptile and get out of here, save yourselves!" Mirajane cried out.

"No, I won't leave you!" Elfman replied.

Behind him, Sol was swaying with a look of twisted glee on his hand as he began taunting Elfman. "Imposter! Your manly image is just a façade to hide how weak and powerless you really are!" he declared as he stopped and then a yellow seal appeared in between the two wizards. "A real ma would never let that happen to such a fair creature. For punishment you shall receive eternal torment. **Merci la vie!** You shall become one with the earth and live out our memories over and over."

Elfman grabbed his head with his hands and began struggling, his surrounding seemingly going wihte and fading to reveal a grey murky place. Having gained his senses, he looked around and saw his younger self, the colours washed out slightly, and he was crying at a grave. "This was when my pet died…" Elfman remembered.

" _Big brother Elf!_ " A female voice shouted and Lisanna came into view.

"Lisanna, it's you! Hey, I…" The present Elfman called out and tried to hug her only for Lisanna to go through her and try to comfort the younger version of him.

" _Come on, please try to cheer up._ " Lisanna said, placing a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down.

" _No, I can't! My parakeet's dead and it's all my fault!_ " Elfman replied.

" _It's not! You had nothing to do with it. Even though it makes us sad, all living things have to die eventually._ " Lisanna explained.

" _All living things?_ " Elfman replied, turning to reveal that his face has tears streaking down them.

" _Yes, but you don't have to cry about it. Though he may have passed on your parakeet will always live on in our heart._ " Lisanna tried explaining.

"…in my heart." Elfman added at the same time.

After considering it for a moment the younger Elfman smacked Lisanna away and began running away and shouting, " _No! You don't understand what I'm going through!_ " This greatly upset Lisanna and the older Elfman who tried to reach out and a younger Mirajane was watching from the sides with a scowl on her face.

The scene then shifted to two years ago on the day that they had left for the request which would change them forever and the argument between Natsu and Lisanna. "NO! Take him with you! You're going to need the help!" Elfman shouted and tried to run towards himself from two years ago but the memory was moving away faster from him and then switched to the moment of Lisanna's death. Seeing it all play out like this again made him freeze in horror and he opened his mouth.

In the real world the same look was on his face but most of his lower body was already covered in stone and it was slowly spreading up his face. "Elfman!" Mirajane called out again, trying to get through to him.

Sceptile had tried using Leaf Blade to slice through the Giant, even going for a smaller part to try and chip off but it was proving to be difficult and looked up to see Elfman in such a state and formed a Focus Blast but realized that she could hit Elfman and reluctantly decided not to fire it and turned back to Mirajane.

After the memory of that awful night faded away it cut to an injured Mirajane and Elfman in the rain standing over a gravestone with bandage. " _I-I'm so sorry, it's my fault that Lisanna's dead._ "

Contrary to what she used to act like before her death, Mirajane remained quiet until after Elfman had spoken, and one arm was in a cast. " _It's not your fault, remember what she told you? Although it makes us sad all living things must die eventually. Lisanna will continue to live on inside our hearts as long as we remember._ "

" _We will?_ " Elfman turned around to look at Mirajane.

" _From now on we'll live life for her and promise, we will… never forget._ "

"I'll… never forget." Elfman muttered and his eyes which was previously glazed over with concrete from the spell returned to normal. What he saw a mix of Mirajane and Sceptile on one side and the rest of the Guild out of the corner of his eye.

"Please brother! I can't lose you too!" Mirajane shouted and tears began streaming down her face and Sceptile out of frustration.

Sol turned away from Elfman with a smile on his face. "Now, for the coup de grace!" he declared.

"She's crying…" Elfman started speaking.

Sol stopped and turned around with a sigh. "Now what?" He asked in an utterly.

"After that day I made a promise to never see you crying again." Elfman muttered and broke free, his whole body radiating the same energy as previously only there was a noticeable glow around him as well. "Tell me Mirajane, why are you crying?" His voice began increasing since the glow began surrounding his body.

"Imbecile, you already zis and failed!" Sol scoffed.

At that moment he was proven wrong when the magic power flowing from Elfman as a magic seal appeared and there was a startled look on his face. "WHO MADE YOU CRY MIRA?" Elfman shouted and everyone in the vicinity felt the increase in magic power and then he started growing in size and changing.

"Zut alors!" Sol responded in astonishment. "He did it!"

Instead of being overjoyed at this, there was a fearful look on Mirajane's face. "The Full Body Take Over…"

Once the transformation had finished Elfman looked completely different than before and had grown to several stories tall with mostly red fur along his body save for the chest and neck, and there was a yellow horn on each and a horn crown on his head. The hair had grown as well and his upper legs had blue fur and the lower legs and feet were yellow and scaly with grey claws.

"…Beast Soul." She finished.

"Beast Soul?" Sceptile echoed staring at the large beast in the.

Seeing that the Beast Soul had been fully activated this made Sol walk back slightly as Elfman let out a loud roar that echoed throughout the hallway. Now in full panic mode, Sol jumped out of the earth and then began crawling backwards and claiming nervously, "Pardon moi Elfman but you see that zis was all a big misunderstanding! I wasn't trying to kill you, this was all a trial to help overcome your past, you are truly the crème de la crème of manly men! Well I should be going now!"

Nothing happened for a moment and Sceptile just stared at Sol, not amused. Trying to take a step back he found himself being punched into the air suddenly by Elfman and span around in frustration. "Curse you! **Platre Sonatra!** " he shouted and then another large fist crashed into Elfman and broke apart with enough force to move the beast backwards.

"Non, non, non! You should not have let your guard down!" Sol taunted but soon saw how little effect it had.

Elfman charged right through and began punchin Sol into the ground repeatedly, taking him by surprise and being unable to sink into the earth as a result. The punchs kept on happening, with Sol's face and body looking progressively injured and bloodied in several places and bruises and lumps all over his body and face, monocle breaking. The beatdown got to the point where his soul was floating outside of Sol's body and seeing it made Elfman pluck it and move it back into his body.

"That's enough! Elfman!" Mirajane called out and Sceptile got into a defensive stance.

Hearing the noise of Mirajane made Elfman stop and face them with glowing pink eyes and moved on all fours outside the Giant and up to the two of them. Sceptile was surprised at how agile this Beast Soul was, certainly not the fastest but deceptive enough and she saw the glowing eyes.

"Elfman, it's me. I want to talk, you can hear me can't you?" Mirajane asked and the glowing eyes faded slightly, the area around it receding as if responding to her. "I'm worried that you've lost control again." She admitted.

Closing her eyes, she was expecting Elfman to go on some sort of rampage or outburst but the glow faded completely and then he quickly caught Mirajane and pushed apart the hand of the Giant with little effort. This surprised her and Elfam actually replied, "I'm sorry, but I had to do a Full Body Take Over. I swore to never do one again after what happened to Lisanna."

"You're still in control…" Mirajane muttered.

"There was no other choice, I had to protect you and Fairy Tail." Elfman replied, dfinally changing back to normal.

Now that the moment has passed and everything was going to be fine Sceptile sat down on the ground let out a sigh of relief. "At least it's over now, so don't mope about losing control of this beast soul."

"We promised to keep her meory alive, and that she would live on in our hearts forever, remember?" Mirajane asked and hugged her younger brother.

This surprised Elfman who sniffed and then started crying ouldy and tears began streaming down his eyes as he cried out, "BIG SIS! I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE OKAY!"

Mirajane couldn't help but chuckle at this and asked, "What's with the tears all of a sudden?" She asked.

"I c-can't help myself!" Elfman continued.

Sensing something off about the Abyss Break, Mirajane turned to face it and then looked at it for a few moment, trying to figure out what was up with it. "The Abyss Break… it's not drawing the magic circle as quickly as before." Both of them looked at it and saw that compared to when they were in the Jupiter room it was notably slower. The outer circle was complete and about a third of the second circle was drawn.

"The four elements of the forbidden spell Abyss Break. Elements… fire, water, earth and air. The Element Four!" Mirajane told them.

"Come again?" Sceptile asked.

"This Abyss Break is being powered by the Element Four! Elfman, how many of the Element Four have been defeated?" She asked.

Elfman thought about it for a moment and tried recalling everything that had happened so far. "Uh… that fire guy is one… and Sol makes two. Which means that there are two of them left." He counted using his finger and Sceptile coughed in embarrassment at the scene before her and decided to act like that didn't just happen.

"Each time one of the Element Four is defeated the Giant slows down." Mirajane concluded.

"Why?" Elfman asked, not getting it.

"Because the element Four are powering the Giant, once all four are defeated we can stop the Giant from casting the spell. If that's the case then the remaining two are Juvia of the Great Sea and Aria of the Heavens." Mirjane explained to them.

"Somethings tells Sceptile that these two will be the toughest to defeat." Sceptile remarked. Now knowing what they needed to do they began running back to inside the Giant and began running back into the Giant, with the hope of either running into Gray or Natsu and Rex.

Cana was watching this with a look of relief on her face. "Well done guys." She thanked before falling down from exhaustion and a couple of shades exploded over her after getting a little too close. They were hit by a purple X that dissipated after hitting all three of them at once.

"Cana!" Macao noticed and ran over to support her.

She got back up to show that there was nothing wrong with her and took out andother group of cards. "I'm fine don't worry about me! Focus on beating the enemy, we can't let them back to the others in the Giant!" Cana instructed.

Macao nodded and grinned at Cana. _I don't know what it is about the women in our guild, but they are all seriously strong._

In the air a group attempted to pursue Crobat but where scattered through a Confuse Ray that made them go in erratic directions – and they clearly weren't immune to a status like confusion and watched two of them smack into each other, exploding upon contact and didn't reform. Crobat began attacking the other affected shades with Air Slashes.

"Shouldn't that thing already be done by now? Why is it slowing down?" Magmortar noticed, taking a look at the Abyss Break circle.

"I don't know but whatever the others are doing inside the Giant it's working." Alzack replied and then fired another Sunlight Shot into the shade, evaporating some of them.

* * *

 **Inside the Giant**

There was some resistance that the pair of Natsu and Rex encountered when searching through the Giant but any members they did come across were swiftly defeated and a couple of blows. After defeating a dozen or so members they turned into a long corridor when Natsu declared, "Hey I just thought of a great idea!"

"Your ideas rarely tend to be awesome." Rex pointed out and Natsu scowled.

"What is it?" Happy asked.

Getting over his annoyance at Rex Natsu replied, "If we can find and beat Jose then we can end all of this!"

"WHAT?!" Both of them cried out.

"Are you completely out of your mind?! Jose is just as strong if not stronger than Master Makarov! There is no way you can beat him!" happy replied, utterly astounded that he was come up with such a stupid idea.

Rex sighed, the only surprising thing about this idea was that he didn't hear it sooner. It was expected from Natsu, not a bad idea but with no thought put into it as was normal for him. "Happy's right Natsu. Even if we did find Jose beating him is going to be something that only Makarov can do." Rex added, siding with Happy.

"Well gramps is out of commission, so it's gonna be up to somebody else to beat that jerk." Natsu grumbled.

Happy was still in shock and came to a stop in midair, the two people stopping with him as he cried out, "Natsu you… dummy! I was trying really hard not to think about that but then you had to go and remind me!"

" _What?!_ " Natsu cried out in confusion.

Still floating in the air, there was an upset look on Happy's face as he muttered, "Now I'm bummed, without Master Makarov there is no way we can win against Phantom Lord. Even if we stop the Giant we'll have to face Jose."

"If that's what it comes to then we'll have no choice but to fight Jose. We might be outmatched in power but losing to him is not an option." Rex observed. Despite knowing that taking on Jose wasn't such a good idea it was probably going to happen in the end once every other member of Phantom was defeated.

With that in mind Natsu grinned in agreement and they began setting off again with Happy, looking at Rex with a smile on his face. Neither the wizard nor the cat knew much about Rex personally but there was no doubt they had the heart to be a member of Fairy Tail.

They entered a large open hallway with an upstairs area and stained glass windows behind above a drape with the Phantom lord emblem on it and several pillars on the side with a green orb on top for decoration. Moments after entering a powerful blast of wind blew both of them off of their feet, though only Rex caught himself in the air using the Sky plate whereas Natsu smacked head first onto it.

The blast created a tornado at the base of the stairs for several seconds before dissipating to reveal a large green clad man with a bandage covering his eyes and a red necklace with a cross pattern and a skull that also had a bandage that covered the eyes. Underneath the green open jacket was a yellow shite and there were tears streaming down. "How sad. I will make you wings of fire wither and fall, dragon slayer."

"Say what?" Natsu shot back.

Aria then turned to address Rex. "As for you Multitype wizard, it will be interesting to take your forms and tear them apart one at a time."

"So you're one of the Element Four?" Rex asked.

"Correct. I am the strongest of the Element Four, my name is Aria of the Heavens." He confirmed with a smile on his face, though it looked warm on the surface both of them could tell that the intent of Aria was anything but warm.

"A wind wizard? We've dealt with your kind before." Natsu stated, unimpressed.

Rex knew that this fight was going to be anything but easy. "Maybe, but Aria is completely different to Erigor." He warned and got into a fighting stance, switching into the Iron Plate and ready to test out his newly acquired Steel type.

* * *

 **With Gray**

Up on the right shoulder of the Giant gray managed to crawl out and at the exact same time it started to could over and rain in the space of a couple of seconds. He held out his hands and looked up, in confusion. "Wasn't it sunny just now? Why is it raining?" Gray wondered out loud.

"Drip, drip, drop. The rain has always been with me." A female voice spoke up, calm and monotone. Walking out from the mist behind was Juvia with a neutral expression on her face. "I am Juvia of the Great Sea, one of the Element Four."

"The Element Four…" Gray muttered, remembering what Mirajane had told him.

"Your guild has already defeated two of the Element Four, impressive. However do not underestimate the remaining two elements." Juvia stated, getting ready for the fight.

This threat didn't faze Gray at all and he continued to stare Juvia down as he replied by saying, "Listen lady, if you're looking for a fight then you've got one. But just because you're a chick don't think that I'll be going easy on you."

As they stared each other down silently a strange feeling began to well up inside of Juvia and a light blush appeared on her face as she felt her heart beat. Then she unexpected turned away and said in a flustered tone, "Well then I give up, you win! Goodbye!" as she began walking away from him.

Gray didn't expect this to happen and shouted, "It's not supposed to work like that! Come back and fight me!" and he began to follow her. "At least tell me how to stop the Giant!"

 _There must be something wrong me, why is my heart beating so fast?_ Juvia thought frantically, not knowing why she was feeling like or how to deal with these new feeling. She was only aware that Gray was following her because of the footsteps landing in the puddles.

"I have a strong urge to make him mine… **Water Lock!** " Juvia turned around and casted her Spell, a bubble of water just like when she had captured Lucy but larger than before and Gray was lifted off his feet and he began struggling in it. The injury from his trip to Galuna began flaring up and Gray covered it with his hand, wincing.

Seeing the bandages underneath the white shirt sent Juvia into a panic. "Oh no, he's already injured I didn't mean to do that! Maybe I should let him go and…" Whilst she panicked, Gray focused and then froze the Water Lock which then broke apart.

This surprised the Phantom wizard and another blush appeared on her face. "An ice wizard? I didn't know that was possible! I've never seen an ice wizard up close before." A fantasy then appeared in her mind of one where she and Gray were in a relationship together. _I'm water and he's ice. We must be bound by fate together._

"You almost got me with that sneak attack you pulled." Gray winced as he supported himself with one knee and then took off his shirt, placing a gentle hand on the wound.

Juvia's new feelings were overwhelming her and she began babbling at the sight of Gray removing his shirt. "He's taking off his clothes! We've just met, don't you think that this is going a bit too far?!" She cried out, not aware of what was going on.

"I really don't want to fight you but I have no choice but to. **Ice-Make: Lance!** " Gray called out on his two handed stance and sent a dozen ice lances towards Juvia.

Instead of landing a direct hit they went through her unflinching body and Gray was surprised to see that the areas that had been hit were all water and flowing in place of her actual body. "My bpody is made out of water, your attacks cannot harm me. Surprised?" She asked and Gray didn't say anything response.

"Yes, I mustn't forget that my love is also my enemy on this battlefield. Farwell my prince, **Water Slicer!** " Holding out a hand, a blue seal appeared with an urn in the center and then curved blades of water shot towards Gray who jumped to the side, though saw them carving off the top of the shoulder spike. "When applied with the proper amount of force, water can rip through steel."

Turning back in frustration Gray casted his Ice Make: Battle Axe and then slashed across the body to no effect. "Can't you see that you're wasting time? None of your attacks will have any effect on me." Juvia pointed out.

"Damnit, now what will I do?" Gray asked.

"There is one way you can stop this. Surrender Lucy Heartfilia and I'll convince the master to cease the attack." Juvia explained.

Gray stopped her before she could explain any further. "Don't give that crap, you know there's no way that Jose is going to just top, we've already gone past the point of return. Besides, I rather give my life than hand over Lucy to you."

That last sentence made Juvia drop her umbrella, thunderstruck and she felt her whole world slipping away and fading into some distant back ground. _He said he'd rather give his life… give his life… give his life…_ She thought and then came to a rather strange conclusion. _Lucy's my rival, Lucy's my rival, LUCY'S MY RIVAL!_

When she starting letting out a cry of pain Gray was naturally a bit worried for her and then asked, "Are you okay? Is there something wrong?"

Juvia stopped and then got straight up with a creepy look on her face. "She's not worthy of his love." She whispered before flipping to angry and as a side effect of her magic began steaming and boiling. "LUCY HEARTFILIA CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO LIVE!"

Gray just stared, jaw open in confusion and then was caught off guard by a blast of hot water that hissed when it hit the ground. "That's so hot, what's your deal? What's Lucy done to you?" He asked.

Starting to get into his stance he stopped and ducked to avoid a blast of water which curved aroundthe spike and then moved to the floor and Gray had to jump over it. "So fast, I don't know if my maker Magic will keep up." Gray remarked and slipped to the side upon landing, almost falling off the Giant and into the water below, panicking as he rebalanced himself.

Juvia slowly walked closer to Gray. "Ever since the day I have been born I was followed by the rain. It give me strength, it makes me invincible." Raising a hand and orb of swirling water formed with pink eyes and a mouth making an angry face. "Prepare to be scalded by my jealous rage!"

"What are you jealous of?" Gray asked, completely clueless as he dodged bursts of water by jumping backwards and then shouted, " **Ice Make: Shield!** " To defend himself from a spout that was coming down from above but the longer the two spells were kept up the more the ice shield began to melt.

"I told you I'm at my most powerful in the rain! You'll never be able to defeat me!" Juvia added.

Instead of fighting the burning water Gray dispersed the shield and then a cloud of mist formed. When it disappeared Juvia couldn't see but walked over to the broken window and looked down at it. "Using the mist as a cover. He's not just handsome, he's also smart. This really is fate." Juvia remarked with a blush on her cheek.

Inside the Giant again, Gray was running away from the crazy chick but the corridor then flooded with the hot water again and erupted into the air. "It's all over now!" Juvia before unleashing a blast of water from both of her hands at Gray.

"Oh yeah! Freeze up!" Gray shouted in response, turning to face the boiling water and plunging his hands right into it, his emotions powering up his magic and freezing the boiling water much to Juvia's surprise and eventually freezeing her once she got to the bottom.

The shock from seeing someone going right into the water instead of trying to avoid it made Juvia unable to think for a moment until she was frozen and despite the fact that she should be angry, Juvia instead felt embarrassed. Although he had frozen her boiling water all the way down her love had accidentally grabbed a hold of her breast.

Gray saw this too and then began to panic as he quickly stated, "It's not what you think, I didn't mean to!" and quickly got rid of the ice.

Juvia got up onto her hands and felt herself blush from such an act. _Even though I'm his enemy he still freed me. He really is such a nice guy._

"Let's start over and act like that never happened, okay?" Gray asked hastily.

Juvia stood up and lookd down at the floor, having calmed down from her adoration for Gray. "Actually, let's not. I honestly don't want to hurt you, so there is no reason for us to fight." She admitted.

"Is this your weird way of saying that you can't beat me?" Gray asked.

Still not looking up at him out of nervousness Juvia replied, though she ignored his question, "You know I'm a lot stronger than Lucy, if you want I can help protect you."

This confused Gray for two reasons. The first came from the fact that she was the enemy, and the second being the whole protecting part. "Protect me? From what?"

"Well, it's just that… I think that…" Juvia muttered, her vice become less and less audible.

As if in response to her emotions the rain began to pick up and Gray held out his hands and looked up into the sky. "Hey, is it just me or is this rain getting even worse?" He asked.

"Oh this is so frustrating!" Juvia cried out comically.

"This rain won't let up, it's so gloomy."

 _Gloomy…_ the word echoed several times within Juvia's mind and she couldn't believe it, out of the people she had met this prince was proving to be no better than the rest of the people who remarked about the gloomy rain. It wasn't something that she could control, the rain had been around her since the day she was born and was teased as a kid about it, not even the dolls she created to help ward off the rain had an effect.

Since then she had to accept the fact that the rain was a part of her life but couldn't not hear all of the gloomy remarks people had made over the years – in the park, in the street, in the fields. Even recently with Bora who ended up ditching her, though that was probably for the better. "He's just like the others…" Juvia remarked and she fell to her knees.

"What's wrong?" Gray asked.

Once again Juvia erupted and steam bellowed out from her body in response to her anger. "How could you be so cruel?! I'm through with love and I'm through with you!" She declared and the fired an even larger blast of water at Gray that completely engulfed him.

 _This is somehow even hotter than before, I just gotta freeze it…_ Gray thought and put his hands out whilst fighting the current, though this proved to be even more of a challenge than before. _It's not working again!_ He realized and was eventually pulled away by the current.

"I've lived my entire life as a gloomy rain woman, but Phantom Lord looked past that and accepted me with open arms! I am one of the Element Four, a proud member of the Phantom Lord guild!" Juvia shouted and Gray fell onto the floor below. " **Sierra!** "

Turning her whole body to water she charged at Gray in a fashion that was similar to Aqua Jet had Rex seen it and Gray got right back up, pushing through the pain of the burning water and shouted back at Juvia, "How can you be so proud to be a part of Phantom?!" and created another ice shield to block Juvia's spell.

Like before, his feelings had empowered his ice magic and he plunged a fist into the water, feeling it and Juvia got out of the way and saw that the raindrops in the air around her also frozen. "The rain as well? He's amazing!"

Slamming both of his hand into ground Gray yelled, " **Ice-Make: Geyser!** " and a tower pillar of ice erupted from the light blue seal in front of him and crashed into Juvia before breaking apart.

It was over for her and she began to fall, sensing that it would be into the lake. _This is it, I'm going to fall down and splash like a raindrop. A fitting end for a rain woman._ She thought to herself without a smile on her face.

What she didn't spot was that Gray slid down the roof to stop her from falling and then caught her by the wrist which made Juvia stop and look up at him in surprise. "Don't let go!" Gray called as he pulled her up and then used his other arm to support her body and then laid her body down on the floor.

"You saved me…" Juvia asked, surprised.

"Have you cooled down?" Gray asked and sat down next to her.

Now that the fight was over, the shock of being saved by someone that she had moments before rejected made Juvia feel genuinely warm, and the weather seemed to agree with her and the sky seemed to clear up with breaks in the cloud. Juvia nearly shut her eyes in response.

"Would you look at that? The sun is coming out!" Gray grinned, glad that it wasn't raining anymore.

It took Juvia a moment to adjust to the bright light and she genuinely smiled at this. "A blue sky. It's so pretty, I've never seen the sun before." She admitted.

This made him turn around in surprise and ask, "Are you serious? Well, now that you have seen it, whaddaya think?" He asked.

The smile that was on her face didn't fade away at all and instead seemed to be growing wider at seeing such a beautiful sight and she finally looked at Gray again. "So… do you wanna go another round?" He asked, referring to a battle but she interpreted it as something completely different and let out a scream of delight, passing out in the process and making Gray panic again and shake her body to get a response.

"Gray!" Looking up, he saw that Elfman, Sceptile, and surprisingly Mirajane of all people had come over to help him.

"Hey! What's Mira doing here?" Gray asked, standing up.

"So you took down who ever this girl was. What's up with that creepy look on her face?" Sceptile asked, poking at the body of Juvia with a claw.

Gray shrugged in response. "Who knows? I think she's having a pleasant dream of some kind." He guessed, and was pretty close with that guess.

"That leaves one more person left of the Element Four. Once he is down we will have stopped the Abyss Break completely." Mirajane explained to Gray.

"Mirajane figured it out, the Element Four are powering the Giant!" Elfman further elaborated.

Hearing this made Gray turn to face the Abyss Break and noted that it should have completed by now but after beating three of the Element Four located within the Giant it was drawing it at a snail's pace. "If that's the case then Natsu and Rex have likely come across the final Element." Gray deduced.

"Why is that not a surprise?" Sceptile asked rhetorically.

"We've taken down three of them, they can beat the last one!" Elfman stated confidently.

Mirajane was not as easily convinced by his statement. "Don't be so sure Elfman. Out of the Element Four the last one is the strongest out of all of them. Totomaru, the Great Fire was taken out after the Jupiter cannon. Elfman pummeled Sol of the Earth and Gray defeated Juvia of the Great Sea."

"So who's the last one?" Sceptile asked.

Mirajane broke out of her thoughts and turned to face them. "Aria of the Heavens, he uses a form of wind magic." She replied.

* * *

 **Back with Rex and co.**

In the center of the giant, a ripple of explosions appeared from seemingly out of nowhere to strike Natsu and Rex, the latter who was still using the Iron Plate and stood still as he endured the hits. Even though it hadn't been too long since their fight began, Rex's warning about him being different to Erigor was on point. Neither of them were capable of landing a hit on Aria so far despite his large size, he used his style of Wind magic to disappear and reappear across the room.

"Let's see how the two of you fair against my Airspace magic." Aria stated and put his hands out in front of him. Though Natsu could not see it, Rex could feel the air in front of Aria swirling around

"Oh yeah? Well I don't see no stinking Airspace!" Natsu shouted and charged forwards right into it. "What the?"

"This is why you shouldn't have charged forwards! I can feel his Airspace, likely because of my Sky Plate within me." Rex guessed and then formed a ball of silver energy in his hands before firing a Flash Cannon right at Aria, getting the same result as last time. "Split up and try to find him!"

They separated with Natsu going down on end and Rex staying at this end, both of them moving around to try and find him. Aria reappeared behind Natsu who had caught his scent and quickly moved around to attack him but was blasted away by an invisible force – at least invisible to Natsu as he regained his footing and then placed his hands together and unleashed a Fire Dragon's Roar at Aria.

" **Airspace: Zetsu!** " Aria called out and a purple seal appeared with a wind emblem in the center of it. Seconds later the air around Natsu exploded, injuring him and cutting off the roar.

" **Bullet Punch!** " Rex shouted as he charged in and unleashed weak but quick punches on Aria and then a metal tail appeared behind him and swung it around, following it with an Iron Tail attack.

Righting himself in the air, Aria slowly hovered down and had a slight smile on his face. "I can't remember the last time someone managed to land several hits on me like that. You really are a most impressive wizard." He noted, smirking all the way.

"You don't seem too worried about us though." Rex added.

Natsu had a determined scowl on his face and stood back next to Rex. "Get too cocky and you'll underestimate us." He stated with his fist on fire.

Aria chuckled and then replied, "When I heard that you managed to seriously injured Gajeel I took an interest in your abilities, Multitype wizard. Then there are the creatures you seem to wield that have assisted others in taking down two of the Element Four – as the strongest of the group I want to know the limits of your strength!" This last part was spoken with a raised voice and a big grin on his face.

"Don't ignore me!" Natsu shouted, throwing his fists into the air.

"Rest assured that once I have gotten rid of all of his take over abilities then I wilt rear your flesh from your bones Salamander." Aria promised, stretching out his hands.

Seeing that Natsu was going to be the next target if he were to be defeated Rex then turned to him and said, "Go ahead without me."

"What?! I ain't leaving!" Natsu protested.

"Think about it, you flaming idiot." Rex snapped and smacked Natsu on the head, though his eyes were focused on Aria "If one of us takes on Aria and falls then the other can take their place and will be in a much stronger position to fight him as he'll be injured as well."

Happy understood what he meant but was still unsure about leaving Rex behind. "Are you sure?" he asked and Rex nodded in response. Turning to Natsu he then said, "Gajeel might still be somewhere in the Giant, we can beat him and then come back here!"

"Fine, but don't lose to this creep!" Natsu finally came around and then began running out of the hall.

Aria made no attempt to stop him as he believed it wouldn't make a difference – he was still going to face off against two powerful wizards and defeat them for Jose. "If you are so confident then let's get started shall we?" With that he used his magic to rise into the air and then the seal from before appeared.

Using the Sky Plate, Rex could now see as well as feel the movements in the air, the blasts of air were spherical and looked notably distorted compared to before where there was a shimmer in the air nad then expanded his wings, diving through them and felt the explosions from behind them. " **Air Cutter.** " He said and then fired spinning discs of air that arced towards Aria, but he disappeared again.

"I did not expect you dodge them all like that. You really will be a satisfying to defeat, Guardian Fairy." His voice called out from nowhere, though the tone of his voice was not lost on Rex as it was one of wicked glee.

 _That's a new one on me._ Rex thought with surprise. "Why the choice of nickname?"

"With the feats you have accomplished and appearance, some people have been talking about you as if you some kind of guardian angel." Aria explained.

 _I don't think a guardian angel would also cause so much damage._ Rex thought and then shook his head and focused back on the fight. If Aria wasn't going to come out then he would force him out and a group of silver orbs appeared in the air and the spread out before homing in on Aria.

Although he tried to move and avoid the Magnet Bomb, when they turned towards him Aria decloaked and instead used a spell to counter them. " **Airspace: Zetsu!** " Only a few of them were needed as the rest assaulted Rex who crossed his wings as a makeshift shield and endured the hit and one of them exploded in the space above him, and he began falling to the ground.

Turning in the air he spread out his wings and the air lift him up and then Aria smacked him down from above with a sudden burst of air and Rex grunted on impact. "You make it sound like defeating me is so easy. Too bad the exact opposite will happen!" He declared as he got back up and switched back to the Iron Plate.

* * *

 **Fairy Tail Warehouse**

Back over in Magnolia, Lucy and Reedus were quietly waiting at one of the warehouses that the Guild had in the town. It was a fairly simple building with metal doors in the front and several stacks of crates around the edges and windows around the sides and back to allow light to come in. Compared to the chaos that was going on at the edge of the lake it was nearly silent in there.

To pass the time, Reedus was doing a drawing of Lucy who was sitting opposite him and she didn't look too happy at having to hide in this place. "Is something wrong Lucy?" he asked, pausing to look up at her.

"I want to be out there with the other members of the Guild, not stuck in here doing nothing." She admitted.

"We would gladly have you out fighting alongside Phantom, I'm sure that everyone else would. But seeing as they are going after you specifically, we're doing this to protect you." Reddus explained, then went back to his drawing.

Despite this, Lucy still wanted to take part in the battle against Phantom and looked around the warehouse. _Everyone… I hope that you're alright against the Phantom Lord guild._ She thought and then sighed.

A rumble shook both of them awake and they jumped up, looking around with an alert look on both of their faces. Reedus wasn't sure if it was a friend or foe at first until another loud bang sounded nearer and then a large dent in the door appeared with a much closer bang sounding in the air. Aside from both of them the other people nearby were alerted by this sound and turned to see what was going on, more round dents began appearing in the doors. "Miss Lucy, stand behind me!" Reedus called out as he moved in front, with his paint brush and colour palette in hand. The doors crumpled and then they were blown off of their hinges to reveal three figures standing in the way, the light shining down onto them made it hard to make them out.

 **Next Time – Wings of Fire**

* * *

 **Not much to say other than this was supposed to come out over the Easter weekend, so yeah. But instead I spent time with family.**


	12. Wings of Fire

**Recap:** Following the destruction of the Jupiter Cannon, Jose activated the Giant and shortly afterwards Gray and Elfman defeated Totomaru. Rex had also arrived but ordered Crobat to help the rest of the Guild and split up. Sceptile and Elfman battled and defeated Sol after they found out that Mirajane was kidnapped, forcing Elfman into his Beast Soul form. Gray also ran into a member of the Element Four, Juvia and managed to defeat her as well, with Natsu and Rex having encountered Aria, and the former going with Happy to find Gajeel.

* * *

 **Chapter 12 – Wings of Fire**

Inside the Giant, Rex and Aria faced off each other with the former having been smacked down into the ground with the Sky Plate active. "You make it sound like defeating me is so easy. Too bad the exact opposite will happen!" He declared as he got back up and switched back to the Iron Plate.

"Then how about we stop talking and find out?" Aria took the challenge and then disappeared into the air. " **Airspace: Bullet!** " He called out and formed a head sized orb that he fired towards Rex at a faster speed than the Zetsu spell and when it Rex unleashing a powerful win gust that made him spun around into the wall.

" **Metal Burst.** " Rex managed to call out and then fired a silver orb that shot back with equal speed towards Aria who was evidently more used to reacting and using spells at such a speed and disappeared in the air.

" **Airspace: Bullet!** " Aria called out despite still being invisible and fired two more orbs of compressed air in succession.

Seeing this next attack coming Rex ran out of the way with Quick Attack, his body surrounded by a white blur as he launched himself off of the wall and rolled to the side to avoid the spell. Sensing a wave of air blasts heading at his location the run continued with the increased speed allowing him to avoid the Zetsu, and he slid underneath the floor and a wave of air skimmed his body before bursting behind him.

"Too close." Rex muttered.

A blast of air quickly circled around him several times before stopping and the disturbed air made it difficult for Rex to sense the location of Aria. " **Howling Wall!** " Aria called out as a larger green seal appeared underneath to form a wider tornado that picked up Rex and began throwing him around inside of it, as he hit the side a similar effect to Erigor's Wind Wall happened and it began tearing at his armoured body.

Mitigating this was the resistance to his air magic, which translated to the flying type and Rex was forced to switch to the Sky Plate and try to fly out and found himself being dragged back towards the bottom where the winds were more intense.

"Try all you want there is no escape from the Howling Wall! Touch the sides and it will tear you to pieces." Aria shouted gleefully.

A different kind of wind appeared from within as a counter and then eventually Aria's spell was dissipated completely, the two forces spreading out all over the area and sending the rubble from the fight everywhere and Aria looked surprised at this turn of events. "I certainly didn't see this coming." Aria commented.

The brief loss of balance from the winds made Rex stumble for a few moments and he looked up at Aria with a thoughtful look on his face and he switched into the Zap Plate and several sparks flared up. "So… is that the best you can do?" Rex asked, and Aria was taken aback by this statement.

"Excuse me?" Aria asked, a frown on his face.

"I'll admit that last spell was intense, but overall your Airspace feels lacklustre. Did you assume your power was enough?" Rex asked, both fists charging with electricity.

No reply came from Aria at first before a slight chuckle escaped his lips and his smile widened enough to unnerve Rex slightly and then he began to audibly laugh. "In that case I have a confession to make as well. I've been holding back in this fight so far." He eventually replied.

This was not something that Rex expected to hear. "What?"

Meanwhile the group that had met outside the Giant were currently running towards the central hall in hopes of catching up with Rex. During this, Mirajane explained, "Aria wears a bandage around his head to hide his eyes."

"What's so special about his eyes?" Gray asked.

"That bandage hides his eyes to help contain his power, if he takes off his bandage covering them it means he's getting serious. His sort of power could easily turn the tides of the battle." Mirajane pointed out.

A shiver ran down the spines of everyone else. "Wonderful. Don't worry Rex, we're coming to help you!" Sceptile called out and they all picked up the pace.

Aria then grinned as he took of his bandages to reveal his eyes which then expanded to form a cross in the middle of them and a gust of wind suddenly blew out from behind him. There was a jump in power that Rex could definitely feel and swallowed a lump that had formed within his throat, knowing that this fight had just amped up for the both of them.

"Now you will join the same fate that your Master suffered back in Oak Town." Aria declared with the large grin on his face and then suddenly appeared behind Rex with nothing to give away that he had moved at such a speed. " **Airspace: Drain!** " He declared, and a seal appeared from each of his hands to lift up Rex. "Witness your magic disappear for good, Multitype wizard!" Aria shouted dramatically.

Though he didn't move from the spot all that Rex actually felt was a slight tingle as his body was suspended in the air and initially made a choking noise and cried out, acting as if it was affecting him. "It's… so sad! Seeing another wizard lose his life brings great sorrow!" Aria cried out with tears streaming down his face.

"… **Meteor Mash!** " Rex shouted suddenly, swinging a glowing silver arm in an uppercut motion with enough force to lift Aria into the air and he crashed back onto the ground in surprise.

"But how? That was supposed to rid you of your magic." Aria cried out in surprise.

Although there was a grin on his face, Rex's eyes were arched in disgust at what Aria had just told him and then replied in a serious tone, "Simple. My powers are beyond comprehension of someone like you. Someone who would take pleasure in stealing a life, including our beloved Master!" He shouted that last part and then launched into his next attack and swung an electrified fist at Aria with enough force to send him across the hallway.

Not done yet, Rex began running forwards of his own speed and ignored the Zetsu that Aria had used as hearing that this wizard was responsible for the Master nearly dying had angered him enough to power on through the damage he was taking. As he got closer his body was surrounded by electricity and charged head on at Aria, only to run right through his body and he screeched to a halt.

Knowing how to get around this though a red ring of energy spread out across the room and a crosshair mark appeared on Aria's chest. " **Thunder.** " Rex said and then unleashed a powerful lightning bolt that made a large sound at it travelled towards the green clad wizard whose attempts to avoid the move were futile as the attack struck him despite being impervious to harm.

"How is this possible?" Aria called out and force himself to reappear.

"Lock-On combination, whichever move I choose after the crosshair appears will hit with no exceptions. Hide all you want it won't make a difference." Rex explained and then ran forwards again surrounded by the same electricity as before.

Aria didn't try to hide this time and simply used his Airspace magic to help his mobility and avoid the charging Rex who jumped off of the ground and then ploughed right into Aria's chest and made him gag, his hat falling onto the floor. " **Airspace: Bullet!** " He called out and then threw the compressed sphere right at him.

Falling to the ground Rex landed on his feet and the area around him cracked from the force. Another one soon followed and collided against a green shield. The explosion hid Rex from Aria who saw that there were now at least a dozen of Rex standing on the floor in different poses. "Illusionary tricks won't work against someone who can vanish into thin air. **Airspace: Zetsu!** " Aria called out and then sent bursts of air towards the other Rex's.

All of them vanished, revealing the real Rex was nowhere to be seen. "Where did you go?" Aria asked.

A blast of boiling water struck Aria from behind and then this was followed up by a powerful glowing Jump Kick and Aria crashed face first onto the ground though he recovered quickly. Injuries were visible on both of them, and the Element Four member was looking slightly worse off for wear and there were several shred marks on Rex's clothes.

"A diversion, you really are a smart one." Aria stated as he got up, seemingly brushing off his injuries and he spread out his hand. The air began to swirl around him and it felt different than the previous times, and Rex knew that whatever was going to happen next was not a good idea as his eyes began radiating power.

The air then kicked up to form a grey looking airspace that suddenly intensified around him, a smoky whirlwind being generated that soon eclipsed the whole hall area and it seemed to be headed directly towards Rex who was not impressed but still cautious about what was going to happen. "Now step into the airspace of death. **Airspace: Zero!** " Aria shouted and the whirlwind intensified.

"Please, you call this whirlwind death? I've been in a windstorm so powerful it makes you look like a stiff breeze." Rex snorted, staying in the Zap Plate form.

"What?" Aria cried out in disbelief at the attitude he was displaying.

Electricity began to flare up at a more intense rate than previously then it focused into a much tighter shell than previously with Wild Charge and Rex spread out his legs apart ready to start running at the correct moment. "How do you take such pride in stealing away other wizards lives?" Rex asked but got no answer from him. "Oh well… **Volt Tackle!** " he then shouted and then shot forwards like a lance.

At the same time yellow bursts of Magic began flying from where Aria had been casting the Spell and then there was a look of shock on his face. "What? You're piercing through my Airspace: Zero? But how is such a thing possible?!" Aria cried out.

There wasn't an answer from him until after Rex crashed right into Aria, which instantly dispersed the spell and he carried on running until he crashed right into the wall, a trail of electricity left in his wake as he managed to finally defeat Aria and it faded away after a few moments. Standing over the body of the final element there was a grin on Rex's face. "Our Master would never fall so easily to your trickery." He stated and then sat down as the recoil damage came into effect.

Outside the Guild Hall the circle for the Abyss Break had been completed and a dark light began falling over the town of Magnolia. "Well this is it, our goose it cooked!" Wakaba cried out.

"What are we supposed to do?!" Crobat cried out, wanting to get away from that thing as much as possible.

The lit-up circle then intensified for a moment before fading away completely and the Giant began heaving, slowly sinking into the lake with the arms dropping down. After a moment of silence there was massive cheering coming from the Fairy Tail members down on the ground, though a lot of them were worn down and injured from the long drawn out battle.

"I must admit I had felt my heart skip a beat. If that thing was completed I don't think that even I could stop it." Magmortar grunted and relaxed his arms.

"There are still these pesky shades lingering around though. Their numbers haven't depleted in the slightest, and we can't seem to catch a break." Starmie observed and then flashed a Dazzling Gleam at the shades, watching some of them evaporate. An idea to destroy a lot of them began to form in their mind.

" **Blumenblatt!** " A female voice called out and they all turned to see Erza in her Heaven's Wheel Armou firing many magical swords across a wide area to give them all a brief respite, taking out at least a third of the shades in the air. It took them longer than normal to reform though from such a sudden and strong attack.

"Erza!" Cana gasped and then stumbled slightly and was supported by Macao. "I'm fine, just focus on the shades!"

"What's going on in there?" Erza asked, still not fully recovered from the Jupiter blast as she was panting slightly.

"Natsu, Happy, and one of Rex's friends went in to stop Jupiter. Once these shades started appearing, Rex, Gray, Elfman, and later Mirajane went in to stop the Abyss Break and defeat any Phantom Lord members lurking around." Cana explained shortly, drawing another pair of cards and then flicking them at the shades.

Erza was surprised at what Phantom Lord was willing to do. "They were willing to cast the Abyss Break?"

"Yeah, though thankfully the guys inside were able to stop it from the looks of things." Magmortar added, and he was starting to feel slightly worn down from fighting the shades off and was hoping for a quick way to end it permanently.

"What about Lucy?" Erza inquired.

"Safe for the moment. Reedus took to one of the warehouses in town. Loke's gone to check up on them." Alzack answered.

* * *

 **With Lucy**

Despite the assurance given by the guns magic user, the warehouse was anything but safe as the doorways fell off to reveal three figures. The first two were the guy with the broken glasses and the pointy hat girl from the raid in Oak Town and they were being headed by none other than Gajeel who was standing upside down on the roof of the warehouse. Boze and Sue decided to entertain them for a moment and engaged Reedus in battle, beating him up pretty badly and he stood in front of Lucy, still standing up from the assault.

"Please miss Lucy, don't worry about me and leave to find the others." Reedus insisted.

"No way! I'm going to stay with you and fight!" Lucy protested.

"Ah, would you look at that, it's so touching I could cry." Gajeel sneered in false pity and then addressed the two other Phantom wizards. "Hurry up and finish tubby here, Jose needs Lucy."

Reedus took out his paintbrush and quickly managed to draw three mountain styled Vulcans on his enlarged chest. " **Picto Magic: Roar of Silver!** " He called out and a trio of them sprung from the stomach and charged towards their adversaries.

"Hey, those are Vulcans you can find on Mt Hakobe." Boze pointed out.

Sue got in front of him and snapped her fingers. " **Mirror Magic: Form Mirror!** " and a light green seal appeared to reveal six mirrors with one in the centre and five spread out in a pentagon formation. When the Vulcans hit the mirrors, they lit up for a second "These mirrors can reflect any attack right back at you." Sue grinned as her face appeared in the mirrors for a second.

This surprised Reedus and they slammed right back into him. Boze followed this up with his own spell and called out, " **Sound Magic: Howling!** " and unleashing a barrage of notes that created a screeching noise that disoriented Reedus.

Lucy ended up having to run away despite not wanting to and Gajeel kicked her badly in the gut. "You gonna let fatty here take the fall? That's not nice." Gajeel sneered at her as she stood against the wall for support. "I can't believe that you'd willing join up with a bunch of losers."

"Take that back!" Lucy demanded, angered at what Gajeel had just said.

"Oh yeah? Then make me!" He retorted.

Despite her anger she was quickly beaten by Gajeel who carried her and jumped up onto the roof, noticing the now defunct Giant. "What's going on? Why'd the Giant stop?" He asked, unaware of the other so-called fairy scum running around inside the Guild Hall. Sensing someone nearby Gajeel dodged an attack and when the dust cleared he saw Loke standing there, face turned away slightly. "The playboy from Fairy Tail."

"It's a good thing I turned up when I did. Now hand over Lucy or else." Loke threatened.

"Or else you'll take her from me?" Gajeel replied, setting down Lucy.

As his arms changed into club, Loke's fists were lit up with a golden energy and they began to fight each other in a close combat battle, with Loke making the first move and punching Gajeel twice then quickly avoiding one of his clubs. Although Gajeel's blows were stronger, Loke was faster and got more hits in which made for a pretty even fight so far. The sound of the fight made Lucy slowly open one eye and she saw that it was Loke who was now defending her but was too injured to do anything other than closing it.

Something was bothering Gajeel's nose though and he thought to himself, _What's up with this guy? He doesn't smell anything like Natsu or the other Fairy Tail members. It's strange that I don't recognise his smell._ "Okay pal, what's your deal? Why do you smell strange?" Gajeel asked.

Loke played those questions down and pretended not to be bothered by them. "I have no idea what you mean, the ladies don't complain about my spell. But if you know what's good for you then you should-!" He was cut off as his body began crackling like a bad tv picture and fading slightly out of existence.

Gajeel didn't care for this and then pummelled him back into the ground where he fell down right not to a defeated Reedus. "Guess I was wrong after all, you were nothing but talk." Gajeel taunted and then addressed Boze and Sue. "I'm going back to the Giant, finish this guy off."

Loke looked up at Gajeel. "I won't let you… lay a finger on her."

The other two invaders disagreed and Boze went first. " **Disturbed!** " He called out and a blast of musical notes attacked Loke from underneath, making him clutch his head in agony.

Sue then extended out her index and middle finger together and Loke was held up by a light green seal in the air. " **Mirror Magic: Kaleidoscope.** " She said and then Loke was encased in mirrors. "It's a good thing that you like looking at your reflection, because that's all your pathetic face is gonna see." She sneered, and they followed their boss.

"Miss Lucy… please forgive me…" Reedus whined.

Loke didn't say anything as he punched the wall of the kaleidoscope, though wasn't strong enough to break it with his own strength. The words of the girl hit home to him and hard as he thought, _Not now. Why did I have to start fading now of all times? It's not bad enough that I couldn't protect Lucy but now the Third time is here… I really am pathetic aren't I Karen?_ Loke stared at the mirror as he felt a cold presence staring at him.

* * *

 **Inside the Giant**

From the control room, Jose was seething with anger and let out a growl of frustration. "I don't believe this! First my Jupiter Cannon is gone and now my Element Four have been defeated by those fairy scum?!" He shouted.

"Guess that makes them worse than scum huh?"

The voice of Gajeel made Jose start towards him. "Gajeel. Did you succeed in location Ms Heartfilia?"

Gajeel laughed at this and then casually threw Lucy to the ground. "Yeah, those fairy scum barely put up a fight."

A smile was on his face in spite of the Giant being finished off and Jose appeared to be genuinely thankful for this. "Very impressive my boy, how did you manage to find her so quickly?" He asked.

Gajeel held up a hand to his chin and smirked. "Never underestimate the nose of a Dragon Slayer."

It was then that Jose noticed that Lucy wasn't moving and was mildly annoyed at this. "She is still alive right? It would be troublesome if Lucy Heartfilia isn't alive." Jose pointed out.

Pretending to think it over for a minute Gajeel replied, "Hmm, I guess I was a bit rough with her. Let me make sure." He stated and then kicked Lucy in the stomach, sending her across the room and making her gasp from the pain. "Yep, she's still alive and kicking."

A larger grin spread across his face as he complimented, "Excellent work Gajeel. I knew I could count on you." and then turned to address the Fairy Tail members that were fighting the shades out and an announcement ring ran out the area. " **Attention, you pathetic Fairy Tail worms. Listen carefully because I'll only say this once.** " Jose began and a moment of silence fell over the wizards, including those stuck in the Giant as they all turned to face it.

A familiar scream rang out as Gajeel held Lucy up and everyone stopped to take in the noise. "Lucy?!" Natsu gasped and then an angry look crossed his face and he let out a roar through the corridor and began using his nose to find Lucy and/or Gajeel.

The others who were heading towards the hallway where Rex had fought Aria stopped at this announcement and looked up. "They got Lucy?!" Elfman cried out.

"Oh no." Mirajane muttered under her breath.

" **Our primary objective of capturing your precious Lucy Heartfilia is complete and now we move on to my favourite part. The complete and utter destruction of your entire Guild!** " Jose declared with a wide grin on his face as he cut the announcement.

Once the announcement was over he got off from his chair and moved towards the door and told Gajeel, "Keep an eye on the girl, there are still a couple of pests scuttling around the Headquarters."

It was now that everything fell into place for Gajeel, realising that the members of their enemies were responsible for disabling the giant and asked, "You talking about Salamander?"

"It's not just him, there are also his friends but especially that Multitype wizard." The mention of Vermend make Gajeel snort in derision. Until this point Jose had been acting extremely goofy and flamboyant but had now decided to stop this act completely and began radiating a venomous pink aura. "They have been lucky thus far but now their luck is about to come to an end. I will exterminate them all myself!"

"They got Lucy?!" Elfman cried out.

"Oh no." Mirajane muttered under her breath.

Despite this they set off and carried on running towards the main hallway and looked around upon seeing the place open up and saw Rex Vermend sitting down at one of the pillars who turned to face them and stood right back up. Walking over to them he immediately noted that Mirajane was amongst the group and asked, "Why are you here Mirajane?"

This made Mirajane blush and look away from here and Elfman didn't want to answer that either, so he turned to Sceptile. "Look, regardless of what she did, Mirajane is safe now." Sceptile cleared up, not answering the question either.

Nodding slowly in understanding Rex turned to face Mirjane and put a hand on her shoulder before sighing and shaking his head. "It must have been something stupid… but you're safe." Rex said and then hugged Mirajane for a moment, making Gray cough at the awkward scene.

"Woah, is that Aria?!" Elfman cried out upon seeing the knocked out Aria lying down on the floor.

"Yeah, guy wasn't tough at all. I told Natsu to go ahead and find Gajeel, I guess he's super pissed now." Rex shrugged it off and tried to hide some of his injuries that he sustained in his fight against Aria.

At that moment their conversation was cut sharply off as a powerful presence revealed itself to the hall and everyone gasped sharply, including Rex and Sceptile despite not being magic in nature. The feeling of the magic presence was much colder than a few moments ago, with the feeling of hope and warmth seeming to die all around them.

"This feeling, what is it?" Gray asked.

"It's like death is approaching." Mirajane noted.

"I'm super manly and it gives me the creeps." Elfman stated and shivered.

"Am I the only one who feels like the temperature of the room just died?" Rex asked and then turned towards the archway at the end.

A slow clap made them all turn to see Jose entering the area surrounded by a dark purple, almost black aura and in a completely different outfit to the one he had earlier worn when Makarov confronted him. It was a more military styled outfit that was predominantly blue with a yellow trim and he was wearing a long brownish red cape that was draped over his left shoulder. The Wizard Saint emblem was visible on his collar and it was tied to a short dark blue ribbon, and black military boots.

"Bravo, you're all quite keen. Very impressive Fairy Tail wizards." Jose drawled in a mocking tone, spreading out his hands and Gray and Elfman turned to face him. "I knew that it was going to be fun but never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect it to be this entertaining. You annihilated the Jupiter Cannon, disposed of my elite four and even bring the Giant to it's knees."

"Is this Jose?" Rex asked, not as alert as the other two male wizards. The feeling that he was giving off was absolutely crazy and he could feel himself shaking slightly as he tried to pin down the feeling of the wizard standing before him.

"You mean this guy's the master of the guild?" Gray shouted.

Although there was nothing in the air Mirajane covered her mouth with her hands and was paralyzed with fear. _It feels like there is a black cloud hanging over the area._ She thought.

"Let do this Elfman! **Ice Make: Saucer!** " Gray shouted, jumpin into the air and getting into his two handed stance and firing a spinning disk made out of ice and then it began rocketed towards the master of Phantom Lord.

" **Beast Arm: Iron Bull!** " Elfman shouted as a series of white squares transformed his right arm into a bulkyu metallic iron and he then leaped right at Jose.

Despite the warning that Rex was about to give Jose reacted quickly and then fireid ghostly pruple stream of energy that pierced through both of their bodies, interrupting the attack and sending them behind both of them. Moving his hands in an arc Jose used his magic to create a series of explosions that further sent them flying, with Rex leaping over towards Mirajane and drawing her in close to his body and the force of the explosion sending the rolling across the ground.

Sceptile had also moved when Jose's arm moved, doing her best to avoid the chain of explosions and then moving to catch the two male wizards who were both knocked out after that last spell. Even though she had gotten hold of them the force from Jose was enough to lift her from her feet and went along with them, turning in the air to right herself and stumbling alongside Rex.

Once the wave of magic had died down Rex slowly let go of Mirajane and they stood back up. Both of them stared at Jose with disbelief, seeing his power on display like that with a pair of worn out wizards gave them the not so charming thought of what would happen if he would get serious and use his full strength. Without a word they shot forwards and began their assault on Jose, Rex swinging his left leg around the side of Jose with Jump Kick.

Despite landing the hit Jose caught and absorbed the force of the blow, a smile appearing on his face as he twisted his right hand around, increasing his grip on Rex before throwing him into Sceptile with a blast of his magic for good measure and they crashed right through a pillar.

"Oh no! Are you okay?" Mirajane asked, running over to him.

"I'm fine. I wasn't expecting him to absorb a powerful blow." Rex replied and then looked at Mirajane. "As much as I hate to say this, take the others and go."

"What?! That's Phantom's Master! You don't stand a chance on your own!" Mirajane argued and Rex could see the look of fear on his eyes.

There was a serious look on his face as he replied, "At least I stand some kind of chance with Sceptile, and you can't use you magic at all. Unfortunately, that make you one more thing I have to keep an eye on in the fight... take Gray and Elfman. I won't say this again."

Clenching her fists, Mirajane tried to think of an argument but nothing came to her as she quickly moved over towards the unconscious Gray and Elfman and slowly began dragging them with Rex initially helping her to move the larger and bulkier Strauss sibling out of the way but out of the corner of his eye saw that Jose fired a tornado created out of his magic and then a green shield was thrown up in front of them. Although it withstood the attack there was numerous cracks and parts of the shield had fallen away.

" **Swift!** " Rex shouted and then fired a ring of golden coloured stars towards Jose. "Increase your speed and use Leaf Blade!" he ordered.

Nodding, she then began zigzagging across the stage as she used Agility and Jose watched as a green streak came up to him and initially was dismissive of this creature, only taking a slight interest in them as an orb formed from each finger tip and fired a shot of purple energy. To his surprise not only did all of them miss but this creature before him had managed to land a hit on him and felt a blade of green energy strike him across the upper chest.

Jose then moved with a surprising speed from his spot that it was only because of Sceptile's reaction speed that she was able to stop him from reaching Rex with a well-timed Focus Blast that exploded in front of him. Though once it subsided Jose didn't seem unperturbed by this and then said, "Interesting, the famed Multitype wizard and one of his beasts beside him. You fought two of my strongest wizards and sustained serious injuries against Gajeel, but you still stand here willing to face me."

Rex had noticed the speed of Jose's movements and was slightly unaware of the sharp gasp he had let slip and then shook his head. "That's simple really, it's because of my determination to protect the guild and my friends. They have done their work to help stop the Jupiter and now we'll finish this war right here!"

There was an ugly smile on his face as Jose stared right back to Rex and that same dark purple aura radiated off of him. "Talented, brave and defiant! Crushing you will give me unbelievable pleasure!" Jose smirked.

Out in the eastern forest where Porlyusica was tending to Makarov she thought there was a strange feeling in the air and turned around upon sensing some sort of glow that was gone when she looked at him and shrugged it off. What happened next was decidedly not a trick as Makarov woke up and then muttered the name, "Rex…"

Turning around she looked over him and put a hand to his forehead for several seconds. "A remarkably speedy recovery for someone of your age." Porlyusica observed and took a step backwards and watched as Makarov got up and began to put on a spare change of clothes that she had left out for him. "You should be resting, not going into these pointless fights."

"Since when do I listen to you?" Makarov asked, not having to directly answer that.

Porlyusica then asked sincerely, "Do you hasten to your death?"

Looking up at her for the first time since he regained consciousness Makarov replied, "My children need me, and I will take that risk." And then opened the door to let himself out.

Once the door closed again, Porlyusica let out a sigh and then took a picture off of the shelf, tucked away slightly behind a jar – the picture was of a younger version of both her and Makarov and whilst there were similarities there were differences. Whereas Porlyusica had grown and kept her pink hair, Makarov had remained short and his white hair was once yellow.

* * *

 **With Lucy**

Up at the top of the Giant, Lucy was thrown against the wall from a kick that Gajeel delivered. The black-haired member of Phantom has grown increasingly bored of staying in this room and wanted to go with Jose to beat the snot out of those worthless fairies. Several other members were also in the room and were looking on with nervous looks on his face, include the two members who joined Gajeel in his mission.

"You gotta sing better than that blondie." A sneering Gajeel mocked as he retracted his club back into his arm and raised his right eyebrow and then said, "Your heart's just not in it."

One of the other members finally spoke up in a nervous tone and asked, "Hey Gajeel, hasn't she had enough? The master said that she isn't to be hurt."

Turning to face him, Gajeel frowned for a moment then smirked. "What else am I supposed to do? I can't believe this." He paused to turn back to Lucy, who managed to get on all fours but was unable to stand on two feet. "Jose leaves me to watch over blondie while he has all of the fun. Besides I'm just playing with my new toy."

"Yeah, but if the master catches you doing this we're all going to be in trouble."

For this comment the wizard with the afro hair got an Iron Dragon's Club right into his face and he was pinned to the wall. "Shut up, I know Master says she's important and all but to me she's just a piece of fairy scum." As he said this the club drew back to his arm before returning to normal and then Gajeel spread out his arms. "Even though she's a girl she's still a wizard, she should have known the risks that come with being a member of the guild!"

"You're taking this way too far man, let it go." Boze pointed out.

"Master is gonna lose it isn't he?" Sue sighed, not looking forwards to the prospect.

Gajeel wasn't moved by that and then chuckled as he stated, "Then I'll tell him it was your idea!"

They began sweating nervously at the prospect and both replied, "Please don't do that."

Turning back to Lucy, Gajeel remarked, "It must be a shame for the Guild to come for you now that they know her father is loaded with cash."

After finally finding her footing, though not without using a hand to support herself, Lucy found the strength to face them and then began laughing. This got all of their attention and they began listening to her. "Geez you're dumb, I can barely even believe it. It's just sad really, I actually feel sorry for you." Lucy wheezed, and this made Gajeel's smirk drop.

"Did she really just say that?" Boze scoffed, arms folded.

"This chick is talking smack to Gajeel?" Sue asked, not impressed.

"Phantom Lord, the ruler of the spirits right? Oh please, I'm not scared at all." Lucy continued.

"Big mistake." Gajeel pointed out and then smacked her into the wall with a club. "It takes a lot of nerve to go any saying those things, though I have to admit that you got guts." He drew back the arm and Lucy fell to the ground. "Make some noise! But not this trash talk I keep hearing! I wanna hear screams ad when I don't get what I want…"

Despite being severely injured Lucy was still talking smack to Gajeel. "Go ahead and do what you want, finish me. But if you do then your gonna pay for it!"

This made Gajeel grin in amusement and replied, "Oh yeah? Who's gonna make me?"

Looking dead in his eyes Lucy stated, "Fairy Tail, they'll never forgive you for harming one of their own. I'd watch my bad if I were you because the world's scariest guild will come after you for as long as you live."

Instead of being scared this made Gajeel was excited from this prospect and he morphed both of his arms into clubs with a perverse excitement and exclaimed, "Is that so? Sounds like fun!" and then leaped in the air.

"Don't do it!" Boze warned to no effect.

As Gajeel was about to strike the floor behind him erupted into a column of flame and he was caught in it, Natsu coming through and roaring as he punched Gajeel back in the direction of the other members of Phantom and Natsu stared at him with a snarl on his face. "I thought I smelled you around here." Gajeel mused, not at all intimidated by the other dragon slayer.

" _GAJEEEEEELLLLL!"_ Natsu shouted at him as he was surrounded.

"Natsu…" Lucy whispered.

After his sudden entrance the flames around Natsu slowly died down into a shell but they were still visible and Gajeel grinned as he stood there, letting out a chuckle. "It's not hard to catch a Salamander if you use the right bait." He observed.

"Unlike you Phantom creeps I watch out for my friends, I won't let you lay another hand on her." Natsu retorted then without looking away from Gajeel told Lucy, "Stay back, this is gonna get ugly."

"Gajeel…?" Boze asked.

"This one is mine." Gajeel grinned in reply.

"OH YEAH?!" Natsu shouted in retaliation.

With that their battle commenced and they both charged forwards, the fire around Natsu disappearing from all but his hands and Gajeel morphed his arms into club as they threw a punch in the air. The force of the impact creating a shockwave that blew the other Phantom members off their feet and forcing Lucy to shield her eyes.

Parrying a blow Natsu then punched Gajeel in the face and his next flaming fist was blocked by one of his clubs and morphing the other back into a hand Gajeel smacked him away with an uppercut before firing his club forwards. Ignoring the blow out of anger Natsu caught the club and threw Gajeel across the room after spinning in a circle once. Gajeel righted himself and landed on the wall, ready to strike but Natsu was onto him and he blocked another fist in the wall and the fire spread out, exploding in the area around them and making the other Phantom members scatter.

After being thrown away, Natsu once again charged forwards and punched Gajeel down. " **Fire Dragon's Talon!** " He shouted, cartwheeling in mid-air and kicking Gajeel from above with enough force to break the stone around him and he drew a club to clock the attack.

Seeing the fight unfold made Lucy shake slightly. "Woah…" She muttered in awe.

"Hey are you okay?" Happy asked, making his way over. "Is something wrong?"

Although she couldn't be happier to see the blue cat at the moment she turned back to face Natsu and Gajeel. "Yeah, I've just never seen Natsu this angry." Lucy replied, watching as Natsu walked from the smoke and continued to scowl at Gajeel.

Turning to face Natsu Happy nodded in acknowledgment. "Aye. He's more fired up than ever before, I wouldn't want to be that other guy."

"Not too shabby. But for fairy scum you're too cocky." Gajeel complimented in mocking tone as he moved his arms in a circular motion and they cricked from the injuries.

"You're the scum here. As payback for what you did I'm going to melt your ugly iron face." Natsu retorted the flames intensifying around his fists.

"Ga ha ha ha! Sounds like fun, so give it your best shot!" Gajeel shouted right back.

Charging forwards with a fiery fist and iron club they both traded several blows with each other before Natsu punched Gajeel in the stomach who recovered by shooting the club forwards. Jumping up, Natsu started to kick him by drew it back when he saw the arm retracting and changing it into a sword and then shot himself backwards with a burst of fire and turned around to face him. "That's a gnarly looking toy you got there."

"This is the Iron Dragon's Sword. Anything that it touches gets cut to ribbons, care for an up close and personal demonstration?" Gajeel asked rhetorically as the sword began buzzing and the black spikes around the outside began vibrating like a chainsaw.

"How is that possible?!" Lucy cried out.

"With his Dragon Slayer magic!" Happy answered, equally shocked.

Lunging forwards Gajeel brought down the sword from above and then the force of the increased power broke up the ground and creating a powerful burst of wind that affected everyone there and Happy held on to Lucy's skirt to avoid being blown away. "Come on, not so cocky kid, now are you? I think you're scared." He taunted. Although Gajeel lashed out several more times from above and the sides and Natsu jumped over it as the swept under him. "I'll give you credit for being such a nimble little fairy, but don't forget we have a score to settle from last time."

Natsu scowled and wiped small debris away from his face. "You're no slouch either rivet face. Let's go, I'm all fired up now."

 _Those two both have Dragon Slaying magic, granting them the power to take on the mythical beasts of the same name. I don't like where this is going to go._ Lucy thought to herself.

A lint green seal appeared underneath Gajeel and a crackling sound pierced the air as Gajeel's body save for his hair was coated with iron scales. "Are you ready Salamander? **Iron Dragon's Hard Fist!** " He shouted, jumping forwards faster than last time and throwing a punch at Natsu with enough force to blow him back off of his feet.

"What are we still doing here?" Boze cried out.

"I dunno but it's not smart!" Sue replied, ducking as Natsu soared past them.

There was an ugly purple bruise on Natsu's left arm and he winced in pain. "Hitting you hit that wall was like music to my ears." Gajeel gloated, leering at Natsu.

"His punches have that much power?" Lucy's eyes widened at this.

"It's those dragon scales, they're increasing his attack and defense." Happy realised, also not liking this.

As Natsu got up to attack Gajeel threw an uppercut and then smacked him across to the other side of the room and once Natsu got back up ducked forwards as Gajeel threw a kick which created a powerful blast that rippled through the ground. Natsu let out a yell as he threw a fist in his face but felt his arm flinch, making him grit his teeth and letting out a small cry of pain. It wasn't unnoticed by Gajeel who let out a short laugh and then said, "Aw, poor little fairy that had to hurt, right?" as it wasn't strong enough to push him from where he was standing. "Hate to break it to you, but your puny hand can't crack this steel."

After a moment of trying to ignore the pain Natsu cried out and then began rolling around the floor rapidly and repeating, "That's didn't hurt! That didn't hurt at all!"

This broke some of the tension and both Lucy and Happy groaned slightly at the sight of this. "Not very convincing, Natsu." Lucy remarked.

"Aye." Happy agreed with a sigh.

Gajeel was less than amused at this and then headbutted Natsu in the ground and then punched him away. "Cut the act, punk! You just don't want your friends to see how weak you are!" He shouted.

Rolling onto his legs and at first Natsu focused back on the battle and growled, "All right you walking garbage can, time to blow you away!" and he put his fists together and then began drawing in fire for his breath attack and Gajeel was doing the same thing in response.

" **Fire Dragon's…/Iron Dragon's…** "

"A breath attack like Natsu?" Happy remarked in shock.

" **ROAR!** " Both of them shouted. Natsu fired a powerful stream of fire towards Gajeel who unleashed a silver spiral made of out tiny pieces of iron and they clashed with each other and creating a powerful explosion that ripped down the front of the area they were fighting in and briefly drawing attention from the outside fighters.

Boze and Sue had been caught in the explosion and were lying down on the rubble, dazed from the impact. "I knew we should have gotten out of here…" Boze mumbled, lying stomach down on the ground.

"I never said we shouldn't…" Sue mumbled as she felt the world spinning from the impact.

When the smoke and dust cleared from the two spells Gajeel was standing over Natsu, the former having the front of his shirt torn out and the latter's shirt being almost completely ripped off with the only thing being a few strands of fabric. There were also several cuts on Natsu's body there were turning red and was down to one knee but managed to get back up.

"It seems that there are some pretty big differences between fire and iron dragon slayers aren't there Salamander?" Gajeel taunted. "You can't even crack my armour. On the other hand, just one of my breath attacks can tear your puny body to shreds."

"Natsu…" Lucy whispered, lying down at the wall.

"Come on – you can take him!" Happy encouraged.

Natsu then began to chuckle at this and then an audible crack sounded through the air and then a crack appeared cross Gajeel's right eye making him take a step back in shock. "I can't crack your armour huh? Listen pal, I don't just breath plain old fire. My Fire Dragon's Roar destroys everything it touches." Natsu pointed out and tore off the rest of his jacket for the sake of convenience.

A seal appeared underneath Natsu and his body began crackling with red energy. "I think it's time to stop playing around and get to the real fight. I'm gonna shatter you into a million pieces!" Natsu declared.

Instead of being scared at this threat Gajeel was ecstatic and then replied, "Oh yeah? Sounds like fun!" and the wave of energy destroyed what remained of his shirt.

"Wait, you mean they were playing around before?!" Sue asked, dumbfounded. If those two did go all out then the place wouldn't be recognisable at all and that wasn't going to be a good thing for everyone else.

"Are they some kind of monsters?" Boze asked.

Lucy was likewise in awe at the scene before them. "No way, those two are amazing… and their practically half naked as well!" She groaned.

Staring each other down Natsu said, "Let's go black steel, I'm ready when you are."

"The sky's not big enough for two dragons." Gajeel replied, taking the challenge.

Back on the ground by the Guild Hall the shades had stopped swarming the other members of the Guild and instead began moving away and forming a circle above them in the sky. "What are they doing now?" Erza asked and was still in her Heaven's Wheel Armour, her presence allowing for the guild to handle the shades much more easily.

"I think they might be forming into one giant shade." Cana guessed.

"Now's your chance to go in there and find the others. They may have stopped the Giant but there's still Jose and Gajeel left in there, we can handle ourselves here." Magmortar suggested.

"You sure about that?" Erza asked.

Magmortar then fired off a Thunderbolt towards the ring but it fizzled out due to being just out of his range and grunted. "Yeah, besides if it gets too out of hand I can beat that thing no sweat." He replied, crossing his cannons as a display of confidence.

Nodding slowly, she then requipped into her Black Wing Armour and then began running towards the nearest open location within the Giant and right as she made it inside the top of the Giant exploded, drawing everyone's attention from the outside. Their attention was then diverting back to the shades who were completing their… transformation for lack of a better word into a giant purple round mass with two glowing red eyes. Four purple arms spread out and formed hands at the end and it just stood there, inching closer towards the guild members on the ground.

"What is that thing going to do?" Starmie asked, back limbs shaking slightly.

Crobat was flying at eye level with Magmortar, slowly flapping the smaller wings to remain at that height. Only a handful of pokémon he had encountered were as big if not bigger than that large spherical shade and his speech was stammering. "Uh… d-does it r-really matter? We j-just need t-t-to beat it r-right?" He asked.

They all watched as the eyes moved over them several times before resting on the guild hall and then began smashing it with its arms, not caring where it hit as long as the guild hall was attacked. Cana was one of the first to react despite being tired out and tried to reach it, but Macao held her back. "I need to stop it!"

"How?" Macao grunted, though was struggling to hold her back.

"But it's going to destroy the Guild Hall at this rate!" Cana shot back as the other members of the guild began firing on it.

The only one who seemed to have any sort of success was Starmie who spun around in the air, propelling themselves with short burst of water and fired a Dazzling Gleam in the area where the right hands were. The beam incinerated an area that destroyed the hands and the eyes of the giant shade reacted to it and stopped for a moment to recoil in pain and then continued smashing at it with the other arms. There was a slight effect on the arms that looked as if the arms were growing back.

 _Wait a moment…_ Starmie realised and pushed themselves down back onto the ground.

Natsu and Gajeel had charged forwards, causing the explosion but they then started flying upwards like actual dragons, both of them using their magic to gain more height and then stopped to face each other before glaring at each other and then started to brawl in the air. From below them both at the top of the Giant and from the grounds near the guild hall everyone saw the force of the punches and heard small cracking noises. "They sound just like fireworks…" Boze muttered.

A firey punch was the n countered with an iron clad kick and they both landed on top of the head and began crossing several punches with each other before kicking with enough force to make the spike on top of the head break off and fall down along with the ceiling they stood on collapse. This made them all scatter and Natsu got up.

"Is he keeping up with the boss?" Sue asked apprehensively.

"No… Salamander is just as work out." Boze noted.

"What?" Natsu huffed out upon hearing the sound of a mouth chewing and saw that Gajeel was eating some leftover scrap iron that was scattered by the destruction. "Hold on man, that's not fair. You're EATING?!"

"So what?" Gajeel replied with his mouth full.

"I can't believe that he actually eats iron." Lucy gulped, this was definitely stranger than seeing Natsu eat fire.

"Does it taste good?" Happy asked.

Once he was done eating Gajeel swallowed and spit out a piece of dirt that was amongst the other wreckage. "Now I got a fire in my belly." He smirked, using the exact same phrase that would normally be said by Natsu.

Naturally the salmon haired fairy called him out on that and shouted back, "Hey that's my line pal!" Natsu protested. Despite this Gajeel let out a yell as the energy from the iron he ate surged out from around him in lint green waves.

"He gained that much energy just by eating his element? We need to make Natsu eat some fire." Lucy realised.

"That would help… but it can't be his fire. It needs to come form some outside source." Happy pointed out.

Outstretching his arms, Gajeel smirked as he knew that the battle had swung in his favour. "Say goodnight Salamander, **Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs!** " He shouted as a lint green seal appeared in the air and multiple spears began shooting out of the seal and attacking Natsu, either grazing him or hitting his body completely. The additional iron that Gajeel had eaten was making the power boost visible to everyone.

 _An outside source, do I have any fire spirits that can do that?_ Lucy thought and instinctively went for her belt and then let out a slight gasp upon remembering that she had in fact dropped her keys when that rain woman trapped her. Digging in her pockets, she did find the golden key for Sagittarius and clutched it in her hands, realising that a centaur that uses arrows wouldn't be such a good idea.

"But I don't care, this is the only chance we've got so I have to make it count!" Lucy shouted and then held the key properly as she made a summoning motion and chanted, " **Open: Gate of the Archer – Sagittarius!** " A bell sound rang out and instead of an actual centaur as one would think a blue hair man with a square like jaw appeared in a brown horse costume with a bow and arrow.

"How do you do my lady?" Sagittarius asked with a salute

"Wow, I can't believe that actually worked!" Lucy asked with a grin on her face.

"But what's with the horse costume?" Happy asked.

Focusing back on what was going on in Natsu's battle Lucy then asked the spirit, "We can work out contract details later, I need to know if you can shoot fire."

Shaking his head Sagittarius replied "No, but I'm quite proficient at archery." As he saluted but wasn't facing Lucy for some bizarre reason.

Moving backwards to steadying himself Natsu called, "Lucy! You guys better get out of the way." And they did so as Lucy was on all four, groaning something about how completely useless she was and then fire erupted around Natsu. " **Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!** " He shouted and then charged forwards right into Gajeel.

Despite pushing him back with the force of the attack it didn't do much damage as Gajeel smirked and asked, "I got a fire in my belly but where's yours? Why don't you eat some IRON?!" Shouting that last bit he smacked Natsu onto the floor and then used a club to drag Natsu across the floor, wrecking some more of the room and forcing stone and metal into Natsu's mouth.

Even the other Phantom members were a little creeped out by his action. "Brutal… Gajeel's crazy strong." Sue noted.

"Or maybe just plain crazy." Boze added quietly, not wanting to get onto his boss' bad side.

Throwing him to the collapsed part of the area Gajeel mocked Natsu by saying, "I think I've had my fun, so just roll over and get lost, scum!" Then began to walk slowly up towards Natsu who was looking up. "Hey look, we're even doing some redecorating."

Gathering just enough strength to look at the Guild Hall, Natsu could see that it was being destroyed as the repair work that was done didn't stand up very well to the large shade as the right side of the hall began to crumble away. A number of the Fairy Tail members were upset and shocked over the amount of damage that was being done to it.

"Magmortar." Starmie spoke up and a Fire Blast was cut off and turned to face them. "Why don't you light them up? If they are made of a dark or ghost like magic, then a powerful beam of light would get rid of them correct?"

Magmortar thought over it for several moments before a wide grin spread across his face. "Perfect, but get the shades attention first, would you?" He asked and formed a red orb in one of his cannon, though there was a less intense heat coming from it.

Spinning into the air a bright multicoloured light disintegrated the other hands before they swiftly attacked the other side which was back to normal and the large shade seemed to be irritated at this strange thing that was attacking it and tried to lash out with its flailing limbs.

"Hey fat, dark, and ugly!" Magmortar shouted and the surrounded looked at him as if he was crazy, because this insult ended up working for some reason and the red eyes were drawn to him. "You know you shouldn't stay in the dark all the time, get some **Sunny Day!** "

An orb shot into the sky and a single orange pulse spread out from it, and seconds later the sunglight brightened and the temperature seemed to notably jump up. The outstretched cannon was glowing a bright golden colour and everyone just stared, wondering what was going to happen.

" **Solar Beam.** " Magmortar said in a quiet tone.

In an instant there was a bright yellow beam of light that formed and then fired from in front of the cannon and shot right through the shade who flinched as it went right through the stomach and Magmortar slowly brought the angle of it upwards to increase the effectiveness, with the blinding light and intense heat being far too much for it to handle or react. After a few moments of just staying there the light spread out across the body and the giant shade faded out completely, the move disappearing as quickly as it had been fired.

There was a moment of silence as awe followed at the sudden display. "What was that?" Wakaba asked in a very subdued cannon.

"I used Sunny Day and Solar Beam. The first move is the inverse of Rain Dance, weakening water attacks and powering fire attacks. Solar Beam would normally take some time to charge but during intense sunlight it will fire right away." Magmortar explained.

Any further questions were interrupted by a rumble from the Guild Hall and they turned around to see that the left side was shaking and anyone who was still near it ran forwards it collapsed. Even though the shade had been stopped the damage was enough.

Up in the top of the Giant, there was a laugh from Gajeel. "Gi hahaha!

Slowly getting up, Natsu couldn't believe what he was seeing – and it wasn't something that he wanted to believe either. A flood of memories began rushing back, including the first time he had seen the Guild with Makarov and remembered the words that the old man had said to him. _'Nobody knows whether or not fairies have tails or if they even exist. That's why it'll forever remain a mystery, unless we try to find out, and that could be an amazing adventure and our members are the ones who want to find out.'_

' _I don't get it, but it sounds awesome.'_

Those first few days he was in Fairy Tail he had already met Gray, and Erza by virtue of getting into a fight with the ice wizard, the Strauss family and everyone else. It was Erza who had taken up the task of teaching him how to read and write over the course of several days, and so many other wonderful memories. Though with the good there was also the bad memories – the day that news of Lisanna's death came is something that he would never forget. Along with the older memories of his time in the guild were the more recent memories.

* * *

 _"Thank for it man! My name's Natsu and this is Happy." Natsu introduced himself, grateful for being carried off the train._

 _"Uh, no problem. I'm Rex." Rex replied and Natsu saw that he was looking rather strangely at him._

 _"Thanks for helping me out back there! My name is Lucy. I know I may not look like much, but I am a wizard too." She introduced herself to Natsu and Happy. "I know how I can make up to you though."_

" _If all we worry about is following rules then our Magic will never progress, so then the blowhards on the Council scare you and follow the path you believe in! That's what makes the Fairy Tail Guild, number one!" Makarov concluded and there was a round of cheers from the whole guild._

 _During their argument after rescuing her from very high up, Lucy began tearing up and they only stopped to look at her once she began crying, all of their expressions turning to confusion. "I'm sorry… all of this my fault." Lucy stated._

* * *

As he slowly got up Gajeel was right beside him, having recovered from the shock at the fact the what appeared to be a powerful laser beam rip through that shade but didn't feel the temperature rise as the top of the Giant was still in shade. "Your guild hall is in shambles and you're barely standing, I'd give up if I were you Salamander." Gajeel sneered and moved in to attack.

 _Breaking the Jupiter Cannon and then fighting two of the Element Four, even though Natsu wasn't alone he still used up lots of Magic…_ Happy thought to himself.

"SHUT UP!" Natsu shouted and then threw a flaming fist towards Gajeel.

What happened next came as a complete surprise to everyone as Gajeel exploded when the fist made contact and was flung near some machinery. Even Natsu was caught off guard at this and looked at his fist, panting as he opened and closed it again in confusion – he didn't eat any fire so what was going on. A few beams of light came through the window and when it hit Natsu there was an orange aura.

"What's going on?" Happy asked in surprise.

"If I may interject for a moment, I believe the sun has intensified for some unknown reason and that's powering up Sir Salamander." Sagittarius suggested.

"Sir Salamander…?" Lucy frowned at this.

Gajeel's ears picked that up and then demanded with a growl on his face, "What kind of crap did you pull Salamander?"

"Whaddaya mean what did I do? I didn't do anything you walking garbage can!" Natsu retorted.

Not believing this at all he fired one of his Iron Dragon's Club at Natsu who jumped up but the delay in this made the attack nearly miss and he was still not feeling up to scratch. Closing down the space on him Gajeel then smacked him into the wall and snorted. "It doesn't matter what sort of trick you pull it still ain't good enough and I'm starting to get bored with all of this holding back garbage."

" **Fire Dragon's Talon!** " Natsu then roared as he swung a foot into Gajeel's body which exploded despite the fact that he blocked and he was sent reeling, though not as far as the previous attack. Even with this unexpected power boost to his magic Natsu was still feeling exhausted from the battle and still needed some fire.

Once he regained his balance Gajeel then delivered several powerful blows to the stomach, with Natsu being unable to dodge them in time as he was thrown into some machinery by the wall and slumped to the floor. Walking over he then picked Natsu up and morphed his free hand into a sword with the intent to cut him at the throat. "Say goodnight Salamander, you've reached the end of the line!" Gajeel shouted.

"If only he could eat some fire then he would be able to beat this guy." Lucy muttered, covering her face.

Drawing his bow, Sagittarius then spoke up suddenly. "Just a moment. When you asked me if I could shoot fire I replied no. But now I see that I don't have to shoot fire, but that it simply needs to be produced." Three arrows fired out towards them and Gajeel moved backed to avoid them, which is exactly what Sagittarius wanted as the machinery exploded into flames.

Happy was impressed at this turn of events. "You found a way to create fire!"

"You found a way to create fire!" Lucy cried out in joy.

Saluting but still not facing Lucy the spirit explained in a proud, "When one applies enough force combined with the correct trajectory an arrow can pierce or shatter steel."

"If you want to salute her she's over here." Happy complained.

"That man horse thing is really annoying me!" Gajeel scowled and then realised what was behind him and turned around.

For the two other Fairy Tail members present the most wonderful sound of Natsu eating the flames was heard as they redirected him back into the mouth and the cheeks of now shirtless wizard puffed up as he did so. An orange aura surrounded Natsu as the external fire powered him up. "Just what I needed, thanks a million Lucy!" He grinned as he gave her the thumbs up, and she returned it.

"Eat all the fire you want it's still not going to work. **Iron Dragon's Sword!** " Gajeel shouted and leaped forwards as his arm morphed into a sword.

Despite swinging it around hard Natsu shouted, " **Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!** " and then fired off a larger fireball than the Spell would normally cast and knocked back Gajeel hard and he felt the fire burning through the armour with more cracks appearing.

After regaining his balance Gajeel decided that if a close up physical attack wasn't going to work then a range attack would do just fire and a lint green seal appeared. " **Iron Dragon's Roar!** " he bellowed and then fired a silver tornado towards Natsu who simply held engulfed his hands in flames and plunged it into the spell.

There was a red glow coming from the centre of the silver tornado that spread out and dissipated without so much as a scratch on him with Gajeel taking a step backwards out of shock. "I don't know how many people you think you have to hurt buddy, but it ends right here." Natsu growled, eyes glowing red from power.

"There's no way… he's just a piece of fairy scum!" Gajeel muttered in disbelief.

"I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to my friends! Messing with Fairy Tail is the biggest mistake you've ever made!" Natsu shouted as he was surrounded by fire.

Although he was surprised at this, the overconfidence returned to Gajeel's face and he replied, "The only mistake I made was not finishing you when I had the chance. **Iron Dragon's Hard Fist!** " leaping into the air as he did so and throwing a hard punch that Natsu blocked with a single fist and their respective seals appeared with streams of fire coming from Natsu's fist.

Cracks began spreading up Gajeel's outstretched arm and trails of fire lashed against his body, meaning that their fight was going to end soon and it wouldn't be him to emerge victorious. "There is no way… I'm the strongest!" He growled furiously.

Enraged and surrounded by fire Natsu yelled, "You're through Black Steel!" and fire erupted from both of his fists. " **Flame Lotus: FIRE DRAGON'S FIST!** " A series of rapid fire punches began overpowering Gajeel, the speed at which the fists were flying too fast for him to make any sort of counter attack or even any attempt to resist them at all was fruitless – Gajeel was Natsu's punching bag.

"Levy… Jet… Droy… Rex… Starmie… Nab… Erza… AND LUCY!" With that last name Natsu delivered an uppercut and then roared as he was surrounded by fire. "This is for destroying our guild hall and harming our friends!" Outside they turned to see explosions coming from the top of the giant and they couldn't see Gajeel being thrown down a floor though a bright orange could be seen from the top of it, and it was something that all of them recognised.

"That light!" Bisca spotted.

"It's Natsu!" Alzack cheered.

First the Giant had deactivated and now it's head was collapsing with everyone scrambling to get out and Sue remarked, "I can't believe this! Gajeel's never lost a fight before!"

From above the Giant, Lucy was calling out, "Natsu! Natsuuu!" as she was being carried by the tail of Happy who had reacted in time to grab her and start flying. With the destruction of the Giant, Sagittarius had also returned to the celestial spirit world, saluting them both as he faded into golden light before disappearing completely.

Lying down on the back, Gajeel was knocked out and his armour had disappeared completely and muttering something that even Natsu couldn't make out but it didn't matter to him and he grinned as he laid down on his back.

"Oh man… the council are not going to be happy when they see this." Lucy stated and despite all of the devastation surrounding them couldn't help but smile and Happy flying down closer towards Natsu.

"Aye, that's Natsu for ya!" Happy agreed.

From above them an injured and dusty pair of Phantom wizards were watching the Fairy Tail wizards. "That guy's insane, he tore the whole place down! Are all Fairy Tail wizards this strong?" Boze asked, sitting down and not wanting to move at all.

"Yeah… they're awesome." Sue slipped out and then realised what she just said, chuckling nervously.

Unfortunately, the damage that their battle had done had spread across the rest of the Giant and there were shockwaves shaking the rest of the mechanical headquarters, with Erza looking up to see a chunk of rock falling on top of her and sliced it apart into multiple pieces. Continuing her movement to the central hall the feeling of Jose's magic was still very notable even from here and she grimaced.

A voice broke out of her thoughts and looking around she saw that it belonged to Mirajane of all people. "Erza?" The white-haired member asked and then Erza's eyes immediately darted to the unconscious Gray and Elfman.

"Why are you here and what's going on?" She asked.

"It's a long story but after Rex defeated Aria, Jose stepped in and knocked out Gray and Elfman. It was Rex who saved me and he's currently fighting Jose alongside Sceptile."

This startled her and Erza raised her voice. "WHAT?! But Jose is one of the Wizard Saints and there is no way that Rex can win against him."

Not expecting her to suddenly shout like that, Mirajane didn't say anything as the Giant continued to shake though this time the source was from the bottom of the Giant and she put a hand onto Erza's shoulder as the redhead was about to leave to assist Rex. "I know you want to help him, but I also need help to carry Elf and Gray. Please, Erza." She insisted.

Gripping the sword in her hand Erza turned to look at Mirajane and let out a small sigh. Despite wanting to go and assist Rex in the fight against Jose the needs of her knocked out comrades had to have come first and then she smiled in a way to reassure her, though to Mirajane it looked rather unsettling. "Very well then Mira, I'll help you. Don't worry about Rex because he can handle himself." Erza replied, though on the inside she was concerned for Rex.

 **Next Time – Spirits Last Battle**

* * *

 **This month was plain hectic and I had a few slip ups along the way but thankfully I didn't have to start over from scratch. But I finally made it so don't worry one bit.**


	13. Spirits Last Battle

**Recap:** Rex fought and then defeated Aria, making Phantom's Giant collapse and stopping the Abyss Break spell but then Jose announced Lucy's capture. Natsu would stop him from attacking Lucy any further and got into a very close fight with him but eventually won thanks to some help from Lucy and during the fight the Guild Hall was destroyed by the shades. When he entered the hall Jose defeated Elfman and Gray and started fighting Sceptile and Rex, the latter telling Mirajane to take the two and she reluctantly did so, eventually meeting up with a recovered Erza.

* * *

 **Chapter 13 – Spirits Last Battle**

Once the Focus Blast subsided Jose didn't seem unperturbed by this and then said, "Interesting, the famed Multitype wizard and one of his beasts beside him. You fought two of my strongest wizards and sustained serious injuries against Gajeel, but you still stand here willing to face me."

Rex had noticed the speed of Jose's movements and was slightly unaware of the sharp gasp he had let slip and then shook his head. "That's simple really, it's because of my determination to protect the guild and my friends. They have done their work to help stop the Jupiter and now we'll finish this war right here!"

There was an ugly smile on his face as Jose stared right back to Rex and that same dark purple aura radiated off of him. "Talented, brave and defiant! Crushing you will give me unbelievable pleasure!" Jose smirked and then swirled his arm over in an arc and shouted, " **Dark Pulse!** "

Shifting into the Sky Plate his wings appeared in a white light and he ascended into the air to avoid the brunt of the explosions, the force pushing him up even further and Rex dived down form above with a Razor Shell outstretched and swung it across Jose's body but the wizard saint caught it with one hand and with a burst of magic threw him off and into the floor.

Sceptile took the time to slash across Jose's back with Leaf Blade which hit and still didn't seem to do anything more than annoy Jose who turned around and began firing shades that moved in straight lines towards her. With her boosted speed it was easy to dodge it, though ducking under one Sceptile could hear a hissing wail as it passed above her and the sound sent a shiver down her spine.

"Multi slash!" Rex called out.

It was something she hadn't heard for a while and a smirk crossed her face as she nodded and then Rex stopped to create multiple silver palm sized orbs of energy and fired them all at Jose, then he also began moving around the other side of Jose with his hands glowing white, with Sceptile's leaves glowing green and then at the same they attacked Jose by crossing their Slash and Leaf Blade the moment they reached him and there was a small blast from the impact.

A moment of silence followed as Jose appeared from the dust with only a few scratch marks done to his uniform, an amused grin on his face. "Is this how you choose to fight me? With flashy tricks and diversions?" Jose asked.

 _Jose really is different then everyone else I've fought before, include Gajeel and Aria._ Rex thought, clenching his fists and trying to hide his nervousness.

"Here I was hoping for you to be a bit more civilised…" Jose joked and gave a wider smile as he said, "Please allow me to return such hospitality in full! **Phantom Spiral!** " A tornado of purple energy formed that wasn't as widespread as Aria's air magic, but it still carved across the ground as it gained speed towards Rex.

Regardless it was still wide enough to graze the floor, seemingly tearing it up beneath the magic attack and instead of dodging it a green shield was thrown up to block the attack but as the spell roared across the shield and it began easily cracking before shattering and Rex had to draw in his body as it blasted him head on and right into a wall. The feeling when Jose stepped into the room carried through his spells and the impact of this one made him not just feel sick but stumble around as he did so.

"Uggghh… that was horrible." Rex groaned and fell down to one knee.

Turning to face the small green lizard who was present with him Jose then began firing purple beams from the tips of his fingers in an attempt to strike her and when that he failed instead Jose then moved and punched Sceptile in the stomach. "Don't forget that I am wizard saint as well, my level of power is far beyond yours, rat, as is my speed."

This made Sceptile gag and she tried to uppercut Jose with a Leaf Blade but was met with a slow step back that felt almost deliberate and then flicked a finger at her, using his magical power to simply blast her away. " **Focus… Blast…** " She coughed out, slowly forming it between her claws and then firing it at Jose, but it veered off towards the right.

Ignoring what had just happened Jose continued walking towards Rex and looked down on him still with that smug smile on his face. "Well? Aren't you going to apologise?" He asked.

" **Metal Burst.** " Rex whispered and then brought up a metal orb that dealt more damage than he had just taken from that last spell, having hidden it in his hands. Slamming them down on the ground Jose was lifted a few feet into the air and Rex tackled him in the stomach with Rock Climb and this was followed up by a Force Palm right into the face.

Jose was thrown off of the small platform and growled in anger. "How dare you?!" He shouted and then began gathering up a sphere of intense energy, with three tendrils of purple energy forming in the left hand.

"This isn't good." Rex noted and then quickly shifted into the Earth Plate and using its power told him that there was enough space to dig around in but not too deeply. That was good enough for what he had in mind.

" **Dead Wave!** " Jose roared and then fired his shade magic in the form of a destructive wave of energy that split up the ground around Rex, accidentally providing him with shielding and the force of the beam could be seen from the outside members.

"What the hell is going on there?" Wakaba asked, shivering slightly. Despite the shades having disappeared there was still a creepy feeling in the air and he had already been weakened from a few of them managing to pass through him.

There was a gut instinct that things were over and Cana had an idea about what might be going on in there. "If I had to guess I'd say that's Jose himself."

Laki turned to face her with wide eyes. "Seriously?" She asked.

Cana nodded though her eyes were glued to the bright flash of light that followed the roar they all had just heard. "We've been lucky in spite of what happened… what happened to the hall." There was a pause as she wiped a tear from her eye. "But now that Jose's stepped into the fight the only way we can win this is with Makarov, he's the only one capable of at the very least matching Jose."

Back in one of the few remaining areas of the giant to not be completely destroyed in the war between the guilds the beam subsided to reveal that nothing was seemingly left of Rex and Jose snorted. "What a disappointment." He remarked. Looking around though there was still the case of the green lizard that fought against Sol and Jose turned with a grin on his face. "So you were summoned by your now dead wizard right?" Jose asked.

 _Jose doesn't quite understand what any of us_ really _are. Guess that means he needs a lesson_. Sceptile thought and then smiled as she shook her head. Jose's smile dropped slightly as Scetpile began explaining, "Whilst it's true that we're summoned like Celestial Spirits, it only takes a small amount of energy and our power is independent. Plus we go back when we chose to do so."

Although it was complete nonsense Jose didn't know that and grumbled under his throat, one more annoying pest for him to get rid of then. Seconds later his smile came back and then the fight immediately resumed with both him and Sceptile dashing across the hallway and already had Night Slash prepared and drawn close to her body. Leaping towards Jose she threw the right arm to block a fist made of Shade magic and red sparks burst from the impact.

Feeling herself being pushed back, Sceptile quickly dug her claws into the ground could feel the pressure from the magic making her sweat. Something that was surprising was that despite her foot claws being dug into the ground they were slowing being pushed back and small sharp pulse of pain shot through them.

"Persistent… little… rat…" Jose growled.

"Sceptile is a lizard not a rat." She retorted, taking offense to that.

As Jose drew back his other arm the ground beneath him erupted and both of them was flung from the impact, Sceptile righting herself as she landed. Jose wasn't as lucky for he was tackled in the gut and then Rex gripped him around the waist and then threw him back into the ground with Seismic Toss.

Switching into the Sky Plate, Rex quickly turned around and an intense wind began to gather around the wings. "Hold your ground Sceptile, **Hurricane!** " came the command and the wings began to flap faster as Rex unleashed a powerful cyclone directly at Jose.

Although he got up it was right as the flying type move began attacking him and the force of the wind smacked him down into the ground. Jose was floored for a while but then got back up and looked right up at Rex before forming an orb of darkness and firing streams of shades toward Rex who cut off the Hurricane and then dived forwards and began circling around Jose. Some of the shades then began curving around towards Rex who dived down even further and then shifted into the Zap Plate and then blasted them with Thunderbolt.

Once her trainer was back on the ground Sceptile charged forwards and then began attacking with Night Slash, tearing through the magical attacks which disappeared after a few seconds. Seeing Jose move his arm in an arc motion they jumped backwards as he unleashed his Dark Pulse spell with red sparks arcing and exploding.

" **Mach Punch!** " Rex stated after changing into the Fist Plate and charged forwards, punching Jose and then shifted and then unleashed a Jump Kick by sweeping his leg across the body and this time Jose didn't catch it as he was pushed backwards.

Sceptile rushed past him and began slashing with Leaf Blade and another tear appeared in Jose's military coat. The next swipe was blocked by a smaller hand shaped orb of magic that Jose conjured up and it easily held the Leaf Blade in place despite that attack having more power and realised, _Night Slash is more effective against Jose's magic after all._

While Jose was charging up an attack in his free hands Rex swooped in as Jose released the orb that was blocking Sceptile and a localised wave of magic spread out and knocked her back a few steps. This was more than enough time for him to react and block a punch from Rex with his free hand before firing a skull shaped shade that attached itself to Rex's arm and sparked, pain shooting up through his arm as he tried to shake it off but couldn't. Jose stood there, the fist that fired the skull shaped shade closed

"Aaaaahhhhh!" Rex cried out and suddenly changed back to his normal form.

Getting back up Sceptile's claws flashed red as she used Hone Claws before running back towards Jose, her blades turning black and striking from behind there was another tear in Jose's coat. The boost to her attack made him notice the strike and turned around with a scowl on his face, though the shade still didn't lose its grip on Rex.

" **Phantom Spiral!** " A purple seal appeared and a purple tornado shot out of it towards Sceptile who waited until it was close enough then jumped up over it and formed a Focus Blast and shot it down at the spell. This made the spell explode where it was and the energy unravelled, blasting in every direction until Jose cancelled it out.

A flash of light behind them as the spell was cancelled out made him turn to face Rex who had burned away the shade with a glowing arm and it faded to reveal that the left arm of the jacket had been torn up and it was hanging just past the elbow – there were also several cuts along the exposed forearm and grumbled, "Geez that felt worse than it should have."

"You broke free from that?" Jose asked, slightly surprised.

"Well since shades are made from darkness then their weakness I'm guessing would be light." Rex replied with a grin on his face.

A light growl escaped Jose's mouth and then spread out both of his hands, five small purple orbs forming at the end of each finger. Instead of firing off one at a time they all fired towards the pair in the space of several seconds and then more of them began firing towards them.

Rex instinctively threw up a Protect to stop them but the first wave of orbs cracked the shield but didn't break it. "Once this is down get moving." he told Sceptile, who nodded and waited as more cracks began appearing.

As soon as the Protect dispelled Sceptile dashed forwards with a Night Slash from each arm and parrying the orbs that were going to hit her. Several images of Rex appeared as well and each one that soared through it made him disappear and Jose briefly cut off the attack from one hand to focus on finding Rex and then blocked a Sky Uppercut coming from Rex who smirked and then swept his feet with Low Kick, tripping Jose up.

As he got back up the whole area began shaking and several pieces of the ceiling fell down in chunks as Natsu was beating Gajeel senseless, and there was a red glow surrounding Rex as he used Strength to break through the piece that was falling down on him. It had also began to warm up slightly with the beams of light that did come from above being more intense than normal.

"Salamander is making quite the racket isn't he?" Jose asked calmly, ignoring the fact that his guild hall was crumbling down around him.

"Yeah, but that's not always a bad thing. He just beat your S-Class wizard and that's all that matters!" Rex retorted.

The smile slid off of Jose's face and he let out a low growl at this statement. There was a moment of silence between them whilst the shaking from above died down until Jose was the first to make a move and stated, " **Dark Pulse.** " But with the other hand shot a purple orb at the legs, making them stumble and take the full force of the spell.

Both of them rolled across the floor though Rex took a bit longer to recover as the pain from his arm kept shooting in spikes whenever it made contact with the floor and getting back up winced. Looking at his arm he saw there were trickles of blood running down it.

"You going to be fine?" Sceptile asked.

"Yeah, hey do you have any stat boosts?" Rex asked.

"What are you going to do?" Sceptile asked.

Smiling he then said, " **Psych Up.** " And an image of Sceptile was imposed over him for a second before it faded and there was an orange aura that surrounded Rex. He gained two speed boost and a boost to both attack and accuracy.

Having gotten fed up of them just standing there Jose then immediately charged up a spell in his hands and three trials of energy curved into one orb. " **Dead Wave!** " he shouted and the beam of energy erupted from the seal.

With the boosts he gained from Sceptile dodging the blast of magic was now an easy thing to do and he switched into the Fist Plate and crossed his arms. Sceptile was racing aside and then leaped forwards with a Leaf Blade extended and slashed out at Jose who caught it, though felt it sting as she was thrown back. " **Cross Chop!** " Rex called and then threw his arms in an X formation.

Once the attack moved there was a brief flash that signalled a critical hit and the attack had enough force to fling Jose off of where he was standing and back far more than anything else had done. Keeping up with the attack Rex then blasted forwards with Mach Punch and stopped Jose form forming his next Spell. Then he began repeatedly smacking him in the face with Arm Thrust until Jose caught his left arm and then punched him hard in retaliation.

" **Counter!** " Rex responded and then unleashed a punch with the strength of double the damage that Jose had just inflicted and Jose crashed through the stairs leading up the hall.

Getting back up Jose grunted for a moment and then let out an amused chuckle as he began to slowly clap. "This is the first time that a fool has lasted this long against me and it will be the only time."

"Only time implies that you're going to win this guild war. That's not going to happen Jose." Rex growled in reply.

This made Jose think for a minute and he tapped a finger on his chin in thought before saying in a proud and mighty tone, "Do you know why I hate your Guild so much? For six years Phantom Lord stood at the top of the Guild and everybody knew it, branches everywhere and groups of strong members that Dark Guilds cowered away from."

Then he scowled and turned to the side as he continued. "In the past few years however Fairy Tail has begun to catch up and challenge that sort of claim with all sorts of strong wizards and tales of how they often cause more destruction than necessary. Names such as Erza, Laxus, and Mystogan were thrown around and those are only the S-Class wizards. Tales of Salamander's destruction spread like wildfire and then more recently we have you."

"Have I really gotten that much attention?" Rex asked with a raised eyebrow. He would have been amused if the situation was anything other than this.

Jose now faced Rex with a scowl on his face. "Indeed, even though you've only been around for a couple of weeks the papers have already been talking about you, a single wizard who destroyed the Guild Conference hall and then reports of your involvement over in Lilygreen and let us not forget your involvement in this conflict." He continued on, voice slowly rising in volume.

Whatever was going to happen next Rex suspected that it wasn't going to be nice. "I… still don't see what the problem is." Now Jose's voice was loud enough to be practically shouting. "HOW CAN A WORTHLESS MASTER LIKE MAKAROV FIND SOMEONE AS STRONG AS YOU?!"

Rex was silent as he looked at Jose, who was emitting a deep purple aura and was looking both angry and a little creepy. Taking a deep breath Rex calmed himself down enough to answer in a casual tone, "Well when my magic is a Lost Magic it shouldn't be a surprise that it's this powerful. As for finding me, well I joined Fairy Tail after Natsu told me about the guild."

The mention of Lost Magic was enough to get Jose to calm down to the point where the purple aura faded away and he snorted. "If we continue to fight you would waste all your energy in a battle you cannot hope to win, so I'm giving you a choice."

"What would that be?" Rex asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jose's grin had returned as then offered, "Why don't you join Phantom Lord?" This made Rex open his mouth in shock, but no words escaped them. Jose chuckled in amusement and carried on, "If you do then as a testament to your strength I'll make you an S-Class wizard. Once you do that I'll only take Lucy and leave the rest of those insects as they are."

Knowing that it was a lie almost instantly Rex pretended to think about it before he began to chuckle at first and then it broke out into laughter. When he stopped he replied, "You really are serious aren't you?" with a smirk on his face that quickly became a scowl. "There is no way that I'm ever going to join your ugly guild, it's on the brink of collapse anyway so it would be short lived."

Instantly Jose snapped and then charged up another Dead Wave. "Then you can perish along with your pathetic Guild!" he roared in anger, firing the spell mere seconds after completing it.

Whilst Sceptile had chosen to start moving now Rex waited for it to come nearer and there was another large noticeable explosion that the other members had noticed again. "Whoever's in there must be really pushing Jose if there's still noise coming from the Giant." Wakaba observed.

"It has to be Rex in there fighting Jose if Natsu fought Gajeel." Crobat guessed, having perched just outside of the large hole from the Jupiter Cannon. He really wanted to go in and help out but the moves he had weren't useful for straight up fighting someone as strong as Phantom's master.

At that moment Erza came flying in carrying a knocked out Gray and set him down on to the floor. "What the heck happened to Gray?" Cana ran over to her.

"Jose happened, and Elfman was knocked out too. I was going to help Rex but I found Mirajane trying to get those two away from the fighting." Erza explained.

Two trips later Mirajane and Elfman were safely back on the ground as the hall shook once more form the fighting that was going and Erza clenched a fist. Obviously she wanted to go back to the Giant and help out Rex though looking it at it now the damage done to it throughout the conflict was adding up, especially at the top where Natsu had fought Gajeel which was nearly unrecogniseable aside from the top being a different colour.

"Help me attend to Gray and Elfman! We have to have faith in Rex right now, that's all we can do!" Erza then ordered.

"She's not going back?" Wakaba asked in surprise and let out a puff of smoke.

"I don't doubt Rex but I'd have thought that he'd need backup of some sort to help him against Jose." Macao added in agreement, both of them missing the glare that Crobat shot them as they were too busy assisting Erza.

When the light died Jose saw that Rex wasn't there and assumed that he was still present and began firing bursts of shade magic from the tips of his fingers at the ground. By the time Jose noticed the slight whistling sound that seemed to be moving it was too late as a blur slammed into him from the side and he turned around to face the impact but was tackled from behind and then was struck a dozen times in less than a second.

There was a blur that Jose fired upon but it was too slow for him to stop as he was then picked up and slammed into a wall. Switching into the Splash Plate a stream of boiling water was fired towards Jose drenching him and then Rex fired a Thunderbolt and because water conducts electricity the attack hurt more than Jose was expecting.

" **Dark Pulse!** " Jose shouted and swiped his arm right in front of Rex.

Shooting up with Aqua Jet, Rex avoided the blasts completely and then formed a small orb of water in between his hands and then fired it down towards Jose who then formed a small purple orb that was larger and was about to fire it when Sceptile slashed out twice, aiming for the orb. One blade was enough as it blew up and moments later the orb exploded when it hit Jose as well.

Growling in annoyance Jose then began moving fast and slammed into Sceptile before flicking his finger to unleash a burst of magic that flung Sceptile across the room with everything spinning until the shadow of Jose was over her. A seal appeared right above her and it looked like there were several of him.

"Not so fast! **Surf!** " Rex shouted once he was on the ground and a large wave of water formed that crashed into both Jose and Sceptile. Although this would damage Sceptile he wasn't worried about that at all.

When the water subsided Sceptile stood up and shook it off, the sudden cold deluge snapping her back to reality and then she threw a close up focus Blast towards Jose but it was caught and a purple glow spread across it, and then Jose closed the fist which crushed it completely. The only thing that Sceptile could let out was an "Oh," as Jose approached her again.

" **Fake Out!** " Rex called out, lightly slapping Jose before he could even blink and he flinched. Drawing back a fist, a green orb enveloped it and then Rex swung it at Jose and the Drain Punch made contact, sapping away at Jose's power while restoring his own.

Attacking with Night Slash, Sceptile then jumped forwards past both her trainer and Jose and there was black arc that flashed across Jose's chest. This did mean that the flinch effect faded and once he could move again Jose tightly gripped Rex's arm and he began exerting his strength over Rex and then threw him at an incoming Sceptile.

The speed at which Rex was thrown sent them both back through a pillar and created a crater within the wall where they stayed there for what felt like forever until they both fell down with Rex slowly getting up and panting. "Sorry about that." He apologised, trying not to keep in a laugh despite the seriousness of the situation.

Sceptile managed to get up before him and then massaged her neck with her claws to help ease with some of the pain. "Now you know what it feels like to be Sceptile in an intense fight." She replied with a snort of amusement.

Since Jose had lost it briefly and started attacking again he hadn't said a word aside from casting spells and it was unnerving Rex slightly. Even with all of those attacks they had unleashed upon Jose it still felt like he was only toying with them, if that _was_ the case then this already intense fight was going to get even tougher.

A single red beam travelled across the floor between them and almost instinctively they spread out to the side with Rex shifting into the Steel Plate and donning his armour the moment afterwards. A wave of purple energy followed the beam travelling through the ground like fire through oil and Rex then put on a burst of speed and then threw a flurry of Bullet Punches at Jose, remembering to back away quickly this time.

" **Phantom Spiral!** " Jose shouted and then fired a tornado of purple energy from a Seal in front of him.

There was a glint in Rex's eyes as used Detect to avoid the spell completely and it burst out through one side of the hall and then Jose then quickly turned to face Sceptile and a red beam raced across the ground once again with purple energy following it. Getting in close with a Leaf Blade she swung the move upwards and was blocked by a shade infused fist and Jose then threw the other shade infused fist.

Both of them clashed with their attacks several more times with red sparks flashing with each clash between the two different types of energy, though Jose was keeping up with the attempted strikes, blocking them all with ease. Charging from the other side Rex went in with a Meteor Mash and swung it right into a purple orb and Jose. All three attacks clashing with each other created numerous red sparks that mostly spread out form the darkness magic.

Jose grinned and then flared his magic aura, creating a purple/black wave around him that made them stop attacking and gagged at the horrible feeling before the Wizard Saint began punching them both. Starting out with a punch to Rex's stomach Jose then smacked him down on the neck into the floor and casually blocked a Night Slash from Sceptile as he then backhanded her across the room.

Whilst he managed to get back up, the sound of coughing alerted Jose to Rex and he turned around to face the annoying fairy. "It doesn't matter how… many times you push us down… we'll always get back up." Rex stated, coughing during his sentence.

"Then I won't stop until I've crushed your body and spirit." Jose threatened with a glare on his face, the otherwise goofy looking persona surrounding him having completely gone.

Rex did feel a slight chill going down his spine, one that was then overridden by the courage to face Jose and then ran to the side and Jose ran a red laser across the ground but this time moved the finger so it was following Rex, resulting in a curved rush of energy flowing towards him.

Switching quickly to the Sky Plate Rex took off into the air and looped over the wave of energy before diving down and then charging towards Jose with the wings suddenly looking more metallic. " **Steel Wing!** " Rex called out as he smacked Jose with the left wing before lifting himself up and then firing blades of air at him.

Dispelling the move with ease Jose turned to fire another spell at Rex but Sceptile struck with Night Slash and then he turned around right into a Focus Blast from the starter and there was a blue flash from the impact of the move. Jumping up, Rex then attacked with Stomp and kicked out at Jose's chest, winding the older Guildmaster then formed a triangle with his hands and charged up a Tri Attack.

Three coloured beams of energy struck Jose and he felt three different kinds of energy at the same time – to him it felt a bit odd feeling three different elements at the same time and ignored that feeling as he stood back up. The uniform that Jose had worn was looking increasingly damaged with more noticeable tears and frays from the battle.

Rushing forwards Jose then thrust out a palm towards Rex but he was met with another palm that blasted out energy and they were both pushed away by the force of the impact. Jumping into the fray Sceptile then threw another close ranged Focus Blast at Jose who was struck by a Brick Break at the same time from Rex with the momentum carrying him further back than before. Wiping his face with a thumb Jose saw that those last rally of attacks has drawn some blood was completely surprised at this turn of events.

 _Amazing, those pests have lasted long enough to draw some actual blood from me._ Jose thought and the look of surprise was visible to the other two.

"It must be shocking to see this happen to you, given the events of today I'd say that it looks like your out of your element!" Rex joked with a grin on his face.

"That was a terrible joke." Sceptile groaned.

"How amusing, but not quite good enough fairy pest. Right now you're still a minor inconvenience." Jose replied calmly and then a large purple orb began powering up in front of him. " **Dead Wave!** " He then shouted and the beam tore through the air.

Once they dodged it Jose then fired another one from his other hand that split into two smaller beams and curved towards them, only narrowly missing them but the force from the beam pushed them further than they thought. Both rolled over the ground with Sceptile digging her claws in the ground and Rex stopping himself with a Bone Rush.

" **Shock Wave!** " Rex called out after switching to the Zap Plate and fired a weak jolt of electricity out towards Jose who moved to block it but the beam suddenly swerved around and zapped Jose. This was enough to slow him down for a fraction of a second and gave Rex the time to use a Thunderbolt and inflict more damage on Jose.

" **Dark Pulse!** " Jose countered and an arc of explosions followed the path that his arm had set and was surprised to see Rex charging right through one of them and his entire body was coated with electricity. Those the explosion did hurt he forced himself to go through with it and then tackle Jose with a swinging fist and kick in quick succession.

As Rex landed back on the ground the recoil took affect and red sparks flashed across his body as Jose got back up and then began firing shades that streaked towards Rex in straight lines with Sceptile defending him by cutting through them and they exploded in a purple flash. This paved the way for Rex to run aside Sceptile and they both attacked Jose at the same, the pokemon with a Night Slash and Rex with a Thunder Punch.

Catching them both, Jose redirected those attacks towards each other with the swing catching Rex on the chest and his fist connected with her face. Rex was more concerned about the Night Slash and whether that would draw any blood, but there wasn't any red stains yet.

Thrusting out his palms, Jose blasted them both back with a burst of his shade magic and then he began charging forwards and using more of his magic to power up a punch. "Now perish!" Jose shouted.

" **Dynamic Punch!** " Rex replied and then threw the punch.

When the two attacks collided the force from the impact unleashed a shockwave that threw up the ground underneath them and it was strong enough to break through the walls, exposing a few bits of the inside and the members of Fairy Tail turned their attention towards the large strange break in the walls of the Giant.

"Did something bad happen?" Cana asked.

Something was happening at the moment, and they saw one of the arms from the Giant fall into the lake and a wave of water washed onto the ground where the Jupiter Cannon had clashed with Erza. Large cracks began spreading upwards as the Giant continued to shake from the intensity of the fight, with the top visibly beginning to collapse.

"Is there something wrong?" An old man asked and everyone froze and turned to see that Makarov was walking over towards them.

"Master! I'm so glad to see that you're okay!" Erza cheered and then drew him in close to her breast plate, his head whacking against it.

"Yes thank you Erza!" Makarov quickly shouted after he recovered then took a breath and watched the Giant slowly break down. "To think that they would go this far in their attack on the guild, it's unbelievable."

A loud boom turned his attention back to what was going on in the Guild Hall and the other arm began to break away and fall into the water. "Master, they tried to perform an Abyss break, though with the help of Rex, Elfman, Gray and Natsu they were able to stop the spell. Then they managed to kidnap Lucy but Natsu managed to rescue her." Erza explained.

"I see… Jose did mention something about Lucy being a part of his plan." Makarov nodded in acknowledgment and recalled the brief conversation that they shared before his power suddenly vanished. Although he hadn't gotten the full details of what had happened, Makarov knew that Rex was still in there fighting Jose. Behind him, Lucy lowered her head as there was still a bit of guilt in her over all of this.

"…Master? You're okay!" Gray managed to speak, having finally come around, though his body still didn't feel right from the injuries that Juvia and Phantom's Master had given and then sharply turned to the Giant. "How come nobody is helping Rex?" He asked in realisation.

"Do not worry about me Gray. Though my body still feels a little weary from what happened my mind is as sharp as ever." Makarov replied firmly.

"I may be still wounded… but as a man it's my duty… to protect the Guild." Elfman agreed and then tried to stand up but stumbled and then fell back down, having to content with sitting on the ground and supporting himself with one arm.

To his surprise though Mirajane hugged him and there were a few tears running down her eyes. "You've done enough for the Guild, don't push yourself any further." She whispered to him and Elfman eventually relented.

Inside the Guild Hall things weren't going much better as Rex and Jose had delivered several strong blows that caught each other and creating more cracks across the walls. A violent shake redirected there attention as a visible shadow began appearing much to all of their confusion. "Move move move!" Rex suddenly shouted.

Obeying without a word the top of the Giant that had suffered structural damage from Natsu's battle and several large pieces of rock began falling down and they both began to run up the falling head with Jose standing still and not worried about the state of his collapsing guild hall and the walls began to follow, creating a large dust cloud.

There was a silence that fell down over the whole area once this had all finished and everyone standing far away from the Giant had their eyes wide out of fear. Makarov and Magmortar were the exceptions, patiently waiting to see what would happened.

Once the dust settled down there was a pile of rocks setting on top of the floor of the hall with Jose standing up and a grin on his face, with no sign of the other two present. It took a moment for the rest of Fairy Tail to realise what had (supposedly) happened.

"No… not Rex…" Mirajane choked up for a moment.

"Damn, and here I thought he actually a chance." Macao added with his arms falling down his sides.

Turning to see the rest of those fairy pests Jose took absolute glee with the looks on their faces and then stretched out his arm and was ready for an attack. A rock was then flung at his body and then smacked into him hard, breaking into several pieces in the process. "Who dares…?!" Jose snapped.

"I do, did you expect me to stay between a rock and a hard place Jose?" Rex answered with another joke and Sceptile groaned.

Seeing the two of them standing together triumphantly like that resulted in a cheer coming from the whole guild and Makarov had a smirk on his face. There was also a look of relief on Mirajane's face that made it look like she was

Jose balled his hands and felt them shaking uncontrollably from all of this, on top of everything the one constant annoying pest was making him increasingly look like a fool and his guild hall had been completely totalled on top of that. Closing his eyes, Jose then took several deep breaths before opening them to reveal that they were now completely black with yellow iris.

"That's not the only reason that I hate this Guild, boy. Back when Phantom was still unquestionably at the top I foolishly got into a drinking contest with Makarov that turned physical and I did not emerge the victor." Jose explained with his voice raised.

To Rex it felt like that he didn't want to lower it, as if whatever façade Jose had kept before was breaking and at this point it didn't seem like he was even trying though. "So is that it? This war is all about your petulance over losing a fight that you started?"

"It isn't petulance if the means JUSTIFIES THE ENDS! **DARK PULSE!** " Jose bellowed as he casted the Spell and now with the freedom to move around Rex switched to the Sky Plate and then flew around to avoid the ring of explosions with Sceptile jumping up into the air. The explosions were starting to get more erratic, just like Jose was.

" **Air Slash!** " Rex called out, firing blades of air towards Jose as Sceptile fired a Focus Blast as well and Jose scoffed in amusement, flaring his magic power to break the flying type attack but couldn't stop the Focus Blast from hitting him. Jose ignored it though, whether it was from angry or not caring Rex couldn't tell.

Either way was fine by him as long as it meant that Jose was defeated. Landing back on the ground he realised that he was breathing in deeper as the fight went on. _This guy is definitely different from Gajeel, how_ am _I going to win this fight?_ Rex thought and shook it out of his head. There couldn't be no question of if he won the fight, it had to be when.

" **DEAD WAVE!** " Jose roared.

" **Mirror Move!** " Rex responded.

As the purple beam fired and roared across the mostly destroyed giant a silver mirror appeared and then copied the exact same attack only this one was a bright golden colour as opposed to purple and where the two met sent al nearby rocks flying into the air and the magic force held them in place. Sparks flew across the battlefield as it was lit up in a bright white light, forcing most of the others to shield their eyes and there was a fierce wind kicked up from the force of the explosion.

"That must be an intense fight, I'm so glad I'm not Sceptile right now!" Crobat blurted out, shaking where he stood.

"I agree." Starmie added, and if they could nod then they would have already.

Cutting each other off, Scetpile dashed forwards Rex then fired a Magnet Bomb cluster towards Jose who then slashed at the air with his shade magic to dispel it and then Sceptile slashed at him with Night Slash and quickly back away as Jose attempted to grab her and then moved forwards to catch up. A Leaf Blade then struck Jose across the arm and then a green glow tail smacked him in the side.

Turning around Rex was then on to Jose and said, " **Headbutt.** " Then whack Jose on the head using his own head. Rex stumbled back a step from the impact and then tackled Jose with Take Down, ignoring the recoil that flashed through his body. Switching out of the Sky Plate, Rex then charged forwards and then attacked Jose with a Mega Punch and sent him across to the edge of the platform.

" **Phantom Skull!** " Jose cried out and then a larger purple orb appeared from a magic Seal, with a darker coloured skull appeared and began travelling at a slower rate.

As it got closer Rex saw that it was bending gravity towards it, as the smaller pieces of the now totalled Giant were being crushed inside of it and was going to go out of the way and saw that it was changing it's path towards him. "Try and run all you want it won't stop until it hits you!" Jose declared with a wide, creepy grin on his face.

"Then I'll just break it apart. **Thunderbolt!** " Rex stated confidently and fired the electrical bolt towards the skull only it didn't seem to affect it much and by now the intense light that the Sunny Day had provided was more than over. "Stay back from it!" Rex warned Sceptile and a yellow orb of electricity formed in his hands. Instead of firing it right away though he jumped back and then fired the Electro Ball.

This was a lot stronger than the other move and electricity spread out across a greater area because of the speed difference but even then it was only strong enough to slow it down temporarily for a few seconds. Using the Earth Plate next Rex then kicked at the ground and golden cracks began releasing energy that attacked the shade and Sceptile threw another Focus Blast at it.

They were both too busy to see that Jose had pointed a red laser across where they were standing and were thrown off by the rush of purple energy that cut across them, allowing for the skull to make contact and envelop Rex. An icy cold feeling then shot up outwards from the centre of his body and there was a notable purple light that shone outwards as the spell made contact and realised that there could still be a way to stop it as he switched into the Zap Plate and felt another sharp pain shoot through his body.

"Get him out of there or she's going to force you to let Rex out!" Sceptile demanded, turning to face Jose.

"Too late, rat. Once inside the Phantom Skull only I can let him out." Jose snorted in amusement.

Narrowing her eyes at the insulting remark Sceptile then charged forwards with her blades outstretched in anger and then began to widely attack Jose, slashing faster than before. Jose tried catching the blade though the speed at which she threw it only resulted in a cut across the palm of his hands that started to bleed. Stopping to look at it, a blue orb was then thrown into his face and Jose blocked it with his uninjured hand and sent it right back to the attacker.

Sceptile wasn't expecting it at such a close range and was blown back by the force of her own attack, though managed to stay on her two feet before dashing forwards at a faster speed with another Leaf Blade ready and Jose grinned as he enveloped his hand in magic. Throwing the punch he expected an attack from the front and instead the attack was aimed at the legs and he was swept off of the feet and he fell backwards on the floor.

A bright yellow light flashed and a wave of purple energy followed shortly as Rex fell down to one knee and took a deep breath as everything returned to normal and then looked at the fallen Jose. "Ugh… that felt horrible, must have been a metaphor for your heart Jose."

"You feeling better now?" Sceptile asked.

"Definitely, though there is still a slight nauseating feeling from it." Rex admitted with a frown.

Getting back up Jose looked at them both with piercing eyes and thought about what to do next before letting out a sadistic grin and then several of the shade soldiers that had previously swarmed the rest of the Guild began appearing in the air. They began circling around the two of them and Sceptile prepared a Night Slash ready as they then dived down towards the two enemies.

" **Copycat.** " Looking at his starter there was a brief black aura and then a curved blade of dark energy appeared in his right hand and then slashed right through the nearest soldier and it split into two sections before it blew up. Sceptile had taken two down at once and they disintergrated into the air.

More of them took the place of the ones that had fallen and soon there were several dozen shades in the air surrounding them and there was a weary look on their faces. If they were to stop this then a single attack was needed to wipe them all out at once and Rex quickly turned to Sceptile and threw a Force Palm at her, throwing her unexpectedly out of range and then a Discharge blasted across the area and caught every single shade.

Although they had dispersed one of them appeared from behind and phased through Rex's blindspot and his body felt like it had weakened enough to lead a chill down his spine though not enough to get him to falter and he stared up at Jose.

"You attacked your own creature? Why would you do such a thing?" Jose asked.

"Sceptile places her trust in me when I summon her. It might have been spontaneous but at least one of us doesn't get injured that way." Rex replied, activating the Fist Plate.

The talk died down as the battle resumed by way of them rushing in to deal physical blows and Rex ducked down and then launched himself into a Sky Uppercut and then quickly grabbed Jose and threw him down into the ground with a Vital Throw. Letting out a growl of frustration Jose then fired a small pink orb that blasted Rex in the face who quickly retaliated with a Brick Break aimed at Jose's chest.

"A pest like you should learn your place!" Jose shouted out loud as he punched Rex across the arena.

Coming to a stop on his side, Rex let out a slight cough as he got back up and was then kicked in the chest by Jose who had reached him moments later. As the figure of the guild master approached again with a magic attack charged up a green shield stopped the blast, getting heavily cracked in the process. This gave Rex enough time to get up and once the shield was over yelled out, " **Endeavour!** "

This next blow inflicted a lot of damage on Jose who felt a great force through his body, unaware of what the move actually did and simply assumed that it was just a crazy strong spell and he landed on the ground with a strange feeling on his face. "What was that…?"

"That was the power of Endeavour. Want to see the power of Perseverance?" Rex grinned and then stopped when he saw that Jose was practically seething with anger.

"All of those parlour tricks still won't save you! My body may have gotten weaker but my magical power is still leagues above yours!" Jose shouted, having forgotten about the other opponent who was on the field out of anger.

A seal appeared underneath Rex and looking down two shades sprung out like tentacle sand then began wrapping themselves around him and started to crush him. Red sparks began flashing all over his body as he began resisting and wriggling in an attempt to break free of it but nothing seemed to be working and it felt like it was getting worse as opposed to better.

"What the hell is this is thing? Some sort of trap?" Rex asked as he continued to shift his arms to try and move them closer to each other.

" **Shade Entangle** , keep struggling and it only gets better for me as I get to hear you screaming in agony. There is one more reason for the attack though. Our target was Lucy Heartfilia, with Fairy Tail simply being a means to an end." Jose gloated having calmed down to a loud voice.

There was a yell from Rex as he looked at Jose, a grimace on his face. "Yeah… Lucy told us everything about it… how she was the daughter of a wealthy family… a-aahhh!" He cried out again as the shade suddenly squeezed a bit tighter.

"It was more than just the difference in strength that worried me. When I heard that she was the daughter of a tycoon I then realised that Makarov has to be buying his way to the top, ISN'T HE?! I'm sure he'll pay dearly for this all – we'll bleed the whole Heatfilia Konzern dry!" Jose grinned, the eyes being really unnerving.

From across the giant everyone was watching on with their breath held and Makarov's expression was unreadable but he was firmly looking on, waiting calmly to see what was going to happen and held out a hand to stop Erza who spread out her legs instinctively to go and help Rex. Hearing the cries coming from him Mirajane buried her hand

A moment of silence passed between the two of them as Rex just stared at Jose, ignoring the feeling of his body being squeezed closer than it should have and then he snorted and began to let out a chuckle. "I'm amazed that you came such a conclusion, it's even dumber than Natsu and that's _really_ saying something."

Jose's face dropped in confusion and he hissed, "What?" in return.

"If you had gotten your facts straight then you would have realised that Lucy ran away from her home with little more than her keys and leftover change. To us she isn't a princess or some nonsense like that, she works at the Guild, rents an apartment for 70,000 Jewel a month and is just as much a part of Fairy Tail as anyone else – but without access to her family fortune." Rex began explaining, having to resist laughing at the look on his face.

Whilst Jose was aware of the fact that Lucy had run away this was news to him and it could potentially prove to be a problem. It didn't matter to him at the moment as he then growled and then made a movement with his hand that made the shades suddenly squeeze tighter and Rex gasped. "That won't matter, once I break her spirit Miss Heartfilia will have no choice! I'll start by taking your life!"

Another shade formed in the air and moved closer towards Rex he then tried moving backwards, only tilting his head slightly backwards as the mouth opened and then began sucking away at his life force and there was a strange whirring noise that everyone heard. There was also an audible scream coming from Rex as he shuffled in the spell despite that being the worst possible thing to do.

"I won't give up… we'll never give up…" Rex began saying and Jose stopped at the word we. "As long as we share a strong bond, nothing will st-AGH stop us." There was an opening where the hands slipped through and Jose spotted something around the left wrist.

"Another trick?" Jose asked.

There was an even wider grin on Rex's face who then laughed out loud at this and then proudly proclaimed through the pain, " **Sceptile, Mega Evolution!** " and then tapped the stone embedded in the wristband.

A bright light then shot out and dashed over behind Rex into the neck of Sceptile and then another round object began shining brightly in response to that before Sceptile was shortly enveloped in a rainbow of light and to everyone looking began changing in appearance.

Once the light faded down it revealed that Mega Sceptile had notably growing a bit with the red around her eyes being more pronounced, a curve shaped cut at her ears and there was a bush growth on the chest in the shape of an X. The leaves on the arms had grown and there was a red tip at the top. What changed the most however was the back as two more pairs of seeds had grown on the back, one orange and one red. A red streak had also appeared in the center going down to a red and green ring pattern that ended at the tail which had grown slightly and now had a re pointy tip attached to it.

For reasons only know to Rex however she was standing with her back to Jose and turning around to face him with one eye. "Has Sceptile always been able to do this transformation?!" Lucy cried out. Everyone on the other side of the lake was equally shocked, also having this question in mind as they only expected Rex to be capable of this sort of transformation – even Makarov's eyes were bulging out in surprise.

"So your appearance has changed, this pest here can do it." Jose dismissed.

"My appearance is not the only thing to change." Sceptile replied.

Then she dashed forwards at such a speed that not even Jose saw what happened next, but there was a black streak that repeatedly attacked the shades that were targeting Rex and she appeared behind him. Jose then realised the shades weren't doing anything and red sparks began flashing everywhere before dissolving and releasing Rex.

Before he fully slumped onto the ground Sceptile caught him in a flash and supported him with one claw. "Did you really have to leave it that late? What if you couldn't Mega Evolve me?"

As the warm feeling began to return to his body Rex sharply gasped and looked up at Mega Sceptile with a sheepish smile on his face. "Well I wasn't expecting my life force to be drained like-" he began but paused and then looked at Sceptile in surprise. "You're speaking in the first person now."

"I always did that when you Mega Evolved me, but now you can understand what I say." Mega Sceptile replied, smirking.

"Yeah, yeah but don't get too cocky, Jose is still a Wizard Saint." Rex replied.

From across the giant there were a round of cheers coming from the pokémon but the other members of the guild were confused about what they had just seen. "Uh, someone mind filling us in on what happened?" Nab asked.

"It's a process called Mega Evolution, though not every pokémon is capable of doing it. When a pokémon mega evolves not only does their appearance change but their abilities change as well – they get stronger, faster and even change typing. Naturally, Sceptile is one of those capable of it." Magmortar explained.

"If it's so powerful then why doesn't that happen all the time?" Macao asked.

This was something that Magmortar had expected as he shook his head and explained, "It's not known why but it's only accessible during a battle. Besides using it every battle is kind of overkill especially when fighting someone significantly weaker."

Makarov looked down in thought, now he was certain of the outcome of this fight and was hoping for Jose. Despite having learnt a lot about this other world it seemed that there was even more that was to be discovered about this world of pokémon, and admitted to himself to wanting to see it at least once despite how unlikely it seemed.

Annoyed at the fact that his opponent escaped his grasp yet again Jose then rushed forwards with an orb of magic around his fist and Mega Sceptile blocked the attack with a Leaf Blade, standing firmly in her spot and forcing Jose backwards without giving up ground and turned around once he was pushed away. Mega Sceptile's chest then began glowing green and expanding outwards as she then charged forwards and Jose still didn't react fast enough as a green X slashed right as he began to cast a spell.

"How are you able to do that?!" Jose demanded angrily, confused at the position that the lizard was standing in.

"I am much faster than before, and combined with my speed you won't even see me." Mega Sceptile replied.

Now that Jose was satisfied with that answer Rex jumped right back into the fight and used Drain Punch again and then with his free hand punched Jose in the head to surprise him and prolong the effect from Drain Punch, quickly backing away once Jose started attacking again. "Heads up!" Rex called out as Jose used his Dark Pulse spell and an arc of explosions appeared once again.

Both of them avoided the attack and saw Jose approaching them and it was still very fast to both of them, Rex being able to avoid it through the use of Quick Attack, dashing across with a silver blur behind him and Mega Sceptile's speed making her nearly invisible to him as she moved in close and fired a single Focus Blast that was stronger thanks to the boost to her special attack and Jose was knocked off of his feet.

After coming to a stop Jose stretched out his fingers and began firing purple bullets from them outwards at different angles to try and hit either one of them but still found no success much to his irritation. There were some close calls however at Rex felt one of them pass over his head, and he instinctively ducked his head slightly, another one hit him in the stomach and he was suddenly thrown to the side and near the edge, wincing from the impact as he clutched his stomach. A nauseating feel washed over him.

As Rex attempted to get up Jose put a foot firmly on his back and he fell down to the floor. "I'm gonna be sick if you keep doing that." He complained jokingly.

As Mega Sceptile charged forwards Jose caught her on the arm and then blasted her back with his magic power and then fired another pink small bullet and nearly sent her over the opposite ledge. "Take a look at your guild, the hall is destroyed and your best fighters are exhausted. Yet you still foolishly persist with this idea that I can be beaten." Jose explained.

For the first time since the fight had started Rex saw the wrecked guild hall and his mouth was open in shock at this – though he never saw it happen, simply seeing it be destroyed like that was more than a little shocking for him. Turning quickly around Jose then shouted, " **Phantom Spiral!** " and fired it towards Mega Sceptile who dashed over to the side and Jose made the spell curve towards he and she jumped right into the air.

As Jose used the spell on Mega Sceptile he increased the pressure to his foot and Rex let out a gasp as he felt the air being pushed out of his body. "Seriously… you might make me throw up from how sick you are." Rex breathed out.

Without turning back to look at him there was a grimace on Jose's face. "How amusing, you can't seem to shut up." He growled and then pushed down harder on Rex who let out another gasp and felt the air leave his lungs.

From the ground opposite the giant the various members from the Guild were still looking on in shock at this. "Get up Rex!" Gray shouted.

"Quit fooling around and beat him like a man already!" Elfman added. Mirajane wasn't shouting anything but her fists were clenched together and silently willing

More shouting eventually came from the rest of the Guild as the crushed spirits began raising again to try and help him with Makarov feeling nothing but pride and joy from the Guild, and some tears began to well up in his eyes – until Jose interrupted them with a loud, "SILENCE!" and the shouts became muted almost immediately.

Looking back down at the insect Jose finally let go and Rex inhaled sharply, coughing as the air rushed back into him as he wheezed to let the sweet taste of air flow back into his lungs. Out of amusement Jose then pinned him down with a foot again.

"I know I've heard of putting your foot down but this is ridiculous!" Rex complained.

"Do you not see how you're fighting a losing battle?! Why do you still persist?!" Jose demanded.

Looking right up at the wizard saint there was a moment of silence coming from Rex who stopped to think about those words, not just because of the question itself but because it reminded him of a battle that he had during his journey across the Hoenn region.

* * *

 **Hoenn Route 120, two years ago**

 _Normally Rex wouldn't have to worry about losing a battle, there had been battles during his journey that he lost but this battle was a different story, one that he was determined to win. Standing up on Rex's side of the field was his longest partner, Magmar who had taken a lot of damage during this battle and was slowing down for definite._

 _Across from him stood a blonde haired boy who was a few months older than him with a look of disappointment that was on his face. He was wearing a long silver jacket over a burgundy shirt and a pair of khaki coloured pants. In front of him was an aquatic pokémon with two stingers and three rubies, two on the head and one above the eyes. Tentacool were common in many regions, but right now this Tentacool in particular was being really a pain to deal with._

 _Throughout the battle against his rival his team that he was bonding with had fallen one at a time until there were just two of them left, Magmar and his freshly evolved Sceptile, though the latter was already poisoned from a previous battle with Tentacool. Judging from how it was able to do a lot of damage to Sceptile this one was close to evolving._

I need to finish off that Tentacool before it evolves, but Magmar doesn't have any super effective moves. _Rex thought, biting his lower lip as he did so. Although he refused to admit it, getting into 5v6 match was downright stupid of him._

" _Whatever plan you may have come up with now has no chance of working Rex. Hurry up and declare an attack already." Ryo replied in a calm and relaxed tone, pushing up his glasses slightly._

" _Look at you, thinking you're so cool like water. Magmar and I are gonna burn you to a crisp, now use Fire Punch!" Rex ordered._

 _The fiery pokemon nodded in response and set off with his left fist cloaked in fire and began charging towards Tentacool who just stood there until Ryo began giving commands. "Take the blow with Barrier and then counter with Water Pulse." A square shaped shield appeared in the air that mitigate the blow and then a blue orb of water appeared in between the stingers._

" _Smokescreen!" Rex called out hastily._

 _A could of black smoke seemingly obscured the jellyfish pokemon but that was not the case at all as despite Magmar backing away the orb went right through as if hadn't happened. Seeing this Magmar quickly fired a Flame Burst on his own and that only slowed down the orb of water and splashes of water fell down on Magmar. "Why didn't that work?!"_

" _Haven't you heard of the ability Clear Body? You can't reduce the pokemon's stats by using a move." Ryo pointed out and then commanded, "Poison Jab."_

" _Block it with Fire Punch!"_

 _As the stingers began glowing purple Magmar put his fists together and they lit up and they each threw their respective attacks, missing the tip of the stinger and instead they both hit each other's bodies. Unfortunately for Magmar the very thing that Rex was concerned about happened and he too was poisoned from the Poison Jab with his whole body flashing purple._

" _Now both your remaining pokémon are poisoned, meaning that my victory is assured." Ryo stated with a sigh on his face, as if expecting this outcome._

 _This was the most infuriating part of Ryo, how he always seemed so sure of what was going to happen despite nearly being proven wrong during a couple of their battles as rivals. One of the things Rex wanted more than anyone else was to see that pride get broken down and for Ryo to make more mistakes in his battles._

" _Why are you so certain about your victory anyway?" Rex asked after taking a second to calm down and try to hide his frustration._

 _Now there was a smile across Ryo's face as he explained, "Four reasons. For starters you have five pokemon on hand whereas I already have a full party to choose from. The second is that both of them are poisoned meaning that they have a limit as to how long they can last and the third is that one of your pokemon is at its basic stage and the other is in its middle stage. Finally even with a comeback I still have 3 fresh pokemon that can match your tired pair. Need any more?"_

 _Who cared about the numbers, Rex knew that it wasn't going to decide who won and always had the utmost faith in his team so he snorted and replied, "Having a full party doesn't matter as long as I can still beat you, and it's the heart that matters!"_

 _Spreading out his arms in a challenging gesture Ryo declared, "Then prove it! Water Pulse!"_

" _Faint Attack then Fire Punch and keep punching!"_

 _Although Magmar didn't think that was such a good idea he nodded anyway and then disappeared in a cloak of dark energy and reappeared in front of Tentacool, avoiding the Water Pulse and then slamming it before lighting both his fists and then repeatedly punched the jellyfish in the head with Fire Punch and continued to do so despite the poison taking its toll on Magmar he still continued with the assault and stopped to dodge a Poison Jab. The stinger graced his left arm and Magmar winced, but then Tentacool was wrapped in flames from the burn effect._

" _I think your Tentacool is feeling a little hot under the weather." Rex smirked._

 _Seeing this didn't upset Ryo, although he did silently admit to not seeing this coming it wouldn't be much of a problem in the long run and simply opted to take out his Poke Ball and return the now weakened Tentacool. "Hariyama, go." He then said._

 _Hariyama, the last time they had battled each other this pokémon was the one that defeated Golbat and Grovyle with relative ease. Maybe if he had been sent out earlier whilst Crobat was still able to fight then this one would have been knocked out. Upon seeing Rex again that bulky sumo pokémon drew back a plam and thrust it out to creating a gust of wind, not that Magmar was intimidated by it despite his injuries._

" _Hariyama again... this is gonna be just fine, hopefully I can get a burn in." Rex muttered._

" _I wonder if this is gonna end the same way that it did last time. Hariyama delivering the final blow on the last member of the team." Ryo stated out loud in an almost dismissive tone before addressing Hariyama, "Use Fake Out then Vital Throw!"_

 _Nothing could be done about what happened next as Hariyama clapped Magmar, making him flinch and was then picked up and thrown around into the ground. Even if Smokescreen was successfully used the move was going to hit regardless though at least Magmar was still standing despite the overwhelming power of Hariyama._

" _Flame Burst!" Rex should and Magmar fired an orb of flame at Hariyama and watched as the pure fighting type toughed out the attack. His ability was going to be the biggest obstacle during this part of the battle._

" _Hariyama can endure more of Magmar's attack since his last fight." Ryo pointed out with a smirk on his face._

" _But our last fight was a couple of badges earlier so you can choke on this. Façade!" Rex called out and the Magmar charged forwards surrounded by a myriad of colours to strike out at Hariyama and dealing a lot of damage due to being powered up and Ryo couldn't hold back his surprise at this unexpected move from Magmar._

" _Interesting, I would have thought that your Zangoose would have been taught this move." Ryo mused for a second before he snapped back into the fight and then said, "Hariyama, Rock Tomb!"_

 _Hearing that move called out made Rex briefly think about his gym battle against Roxanne where she had used it to great effect as well. No doubt this was mainly used against flying types and Rex watched Magmar moving around the rocks, slowing down more because of the poison until the rocks slammed into him and he fell down. There was a moment where Magmar anted heavily and tried to stand up but fell down exhausted and unable to move._

" _One more left." Ryo noted._

 _Drawing his last Poke ball, Rex felt his hands shaking slightly and let out a growl of frustration._ My last pokémon, I have to prove him right. I'm not going to lose this fight no matter how bad the odds are. _Throwing it out the light formed Sceptile and Hariyama blinked in surprise upon seeing the starter being fully evolved. Sceptile returned a hiss of recognition, remember how their last encounter went._

" _Focus Hariyama, this one is stronger than last time. Vital Throw." Ryo commanded and then Hariyama began moving forwards, though the last attack done by Magmar did slow it down slightly._

"… _Aerial Ace!" Rex called out once Hariyama had gotten closer, it was a move that he hadn't used yet and it was hopefully enough to surprise the rival and land a solid hit on Hariyama._

 _As the bulky wrestler reach out to grab Sceptile she jumped up and struck with a fast claw that stopped Hariyama in his tracks and pushed him back a foot or two and Ryo raised an eyebrow. This was a first for the other trainer, who normally wouldn't hide a move if it didn't gain an advantage, and Ryo guessed that it was a sign of how he really wanted to win this battle. "Now Leaf Blade!" Sceptile then extended her arm blade and Hariyama stumbled back even further, Sceptile ignoring the pain from the poison to try and power on through._

" _Change of plan, Rock Tomb to slow her down!" Ryo called out and then a ring of rocks appeared in the air and began falling down towards the plant lizard._

" _Counter it with a Dual Chop then Mega Drain!" Sceptile dashed from side to side and kept an eye on Hariyama getting in close with two glowing light green claws, attacking twice and then firing a green beam of energy from her mouth that began draining the energy from Hariyama and healing herself. A risky move as she had to remain still, though with the increase in power after evolving it was dealing a lot more damage._

 _Remembering the last time that the grass type starter had used it Ryo knew that he had to act fast. "Protect!" He called out and then the beam of energy began hitting a green shield that protected Hariyama and dispersed. Sceptile was looking in much better shape than before but was still suffering from the poison._

"… _Leaf Blade again! Hariyama's got a lot of stamina but with enough attacks we can break through!" Rex encouraged._

" _Don't get too cocky. Hariyama use Bulk Up and then grab Sceptile." Ryo stated and then Hariyama tensed up his muscles before the Leaf Blade made contact and the attack did less damage. Then the other arm was grabbed and Rex looked on in surprise and concern about what was going to happen next, as he knew that a Hariyama possessed formidable physical strength._

" _Get out of there! Use Aerial Ace on Hariyama!" Rex commanded._

 _Using his other palm Hariyama blocked the attack, being able to take the hit better than last timeand Sceptile began sweating nervously at the fact that the move wasn't able to do as much as last time. This wasn't going to end well._

" _Batter Sceptile with Rock Tomb and then throw her down with Vital Throw." Ryo instructed._

 _This time the rocks did not miss as Hariyama began moving the arm around in a circle before throwing Sceptile into several of the rocks and they shattered, also causing a Speed drop that gave Hariyama enough room to throw a palm against her body and she was sent flying into the ground and there was a loud crash from the starter who winced as she hit the ground and still managed to get back up._

" _The resolve of your Sceptile is impressive. Despite the fact that there is no hope left no matter how much you think, what makes you think that Sceptile alone will win it for you? Why are you still persisting?" Ryo asked with a frown on his face and Hariyama waiting patiently for the next move to be made. Despite this patience there was a growing sense of frustration inside of Ryo and it was his rival that was the source – the fact that Rex kept going perplexed him. In spite of having not won a battle against him and all of the insults that had been thrown at Rex, he never stopped until the battle was over._

 _Whilst thinking of a reply Rex was calming down and stood up straight instead of spread out and tensed up and the expression on his face had changed into a calm but fierce glare towards his rival and his fists were balled up and shaking slightly. That was the moment Ryo realised that there was more to Rex than what he thought he knew._

" _Why do I keep fighting even when I'm going to lose?" Rex replied._

* * *

The silence that was coming from the battlefield was making everyone hold their breath, Erza, Natsu, Mirajane, even Mega Sceptile who still kept her distance from the master of Phantom Lord and was digging her claws into the ground out of frustration.

"Come on Rex, please get back up." Mirajane whispered and this didn't go unnoticed by some of the other members of the Guild.

There was a growing impatience from Jose who applied a bit more pressure on his foot and Rex's body reacted but he didn't seem to say anything about it at first. "Well, fairy pest, what is it?!"

Placing a plam on the ground there was a glow coming from it and then his eyes began radiating blue. Assist had called Psychic and it was strong enough to lift Jose off of his feet and move him away from Rex as he could now get back up on his feet and began breathing deeply as he stared right at Jose with all hint of a smile seemingly being lost for a moment.

"…I persist for my friends. Not just the ones I've made in Fairy Tail, but also the one who fight alongside me no matter how grave their injuries are – they are my family Jose." Rex replied, a serious look still on his face.

Jose snorted in amusement at this answer. "Your friends are about to watch what happens when you continue to defy me. This so called family you claim to defend will be broken from your defeat and they will blame you."

Although Rex had already gotten himself riled up by Jose's desire to squeeze the life out of Lucy's family that particular remark make him look down towards the floor for a moment before he looked right back at Jose the serious look replaced with a force smile as the furrowed eyebrows indicated on his face as he asked, "Would you like to repeat that Jose?" and cracked his knuckles.

* * *

 **Next Time – Lucy's Resolution**

 **Oh boy that ending part of the chapter took far longer than it should. Like seriously I got about 11k words done in around 8 days and the rest was a slog to write when I had no energy to actually write out the chapter.**


	14. Lucy's Resolution

**Recap:** As the back and forth battle between Rex and Jose continued the Phantom Lord Guild member eventually revealed more of why they were fighting with the giant slowly collapsing around them until they could be seen by the rest of the Fairy Tail. Despite landing some big attacks, Jose more than lived up to the title and forced Rex to unleash Sceptile's Mega Evolution. After making a personal remark Rex threw Jose to side and adopted a serious expression.

* * *

 **Chapter 14 – Lucy's Resolution**

The amount of magical power that Jose was exerting could be felt by many wizards who weren't aware of what was going on and they were baffled by this strange feeling – one of the few aware of the conflict between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord was standing outside her treehouse and grimacing all the same.

"It never stops, humans constantly fighting with each other. With the amount of power that wizard has exerted, even the trees can feel it." Porlyusica grumbled as she took notes of the surroundings which were shaking from the battle raging back in Magnolia Town.

After a moment she then burst out into a fit of comical anger and swung her broom around, knocking a crate of apples over and they tumbled onto the floor. Sensing someone near her she turned around quickly to see that is was one from the Fairy Tail guild sitting across from her on the tree. "Mystogan… shouldn't you be fighting alongside the Guild?"

"…can I have an apple?" The mysterious guild member asked, though didn't wait for an answer and took one anyway and somehow began eating through the mask he was wearing, and Porlyusica raised an eyebrow at this.

Though she was mildly annoyed at this her attention was back towards the fighting between the two guilds. "Why must people always fight with each other? It never ends well and only hurts everyone involved." She sighed and then raised her voice, "I didn't say you could have an apple!"

After taking another bite, Mystogan looked down at the inside for a moment before looking back up at her and replying, "Although fighting may bring lots of harm, it isn't always a bad thing. For instance, is fighting to protect someone bad?" he asked.

A gust of wind began blowing through the area which was shortly followed by many purple flags bearing the Phantom insignia riding the wind and a few them fell down onto the ground. Picking one of them up she then realised that this was from their subdivision and came to the conclusion that Mystogan must have defeated all of them and been the one to gather Makarov's lost magic and sped up his recovery. _Incredible._

Choosing to speak once more she noted, "Though I don't doubt the strength of the Fairy Tail guild, I sometimes worry that their strength will also be their downfall."

"I believe that their own strength can lead to a better future. May I take another apple for the road?" Mystogan asked, once again not waiting for an answer before using his magic to disappear into the air.

"Don't leave me behind with this mess!" Porlyusica shouted after him, swinging her broom around.

* * *

 **Magnolia Town**

Watching the fight from afar, Crobat's hearing picked up on the question and he let out a slight noise of fear at Rex's statement. Magmortar heard that and then asked, "So what was that noise for?"

"Uh… I think Rex just dropped his jokes and has decided to get serious." Crobat replied.

"Interesting, well let's pray for Jose." Magmortar smirked.

Across the water and on the giant, there was a moment as they stared each other down before the fight roared back into life. Rex then began to run forwards towards Jose who pulled back a punch that connected with the air as the trainer slid underneath him and then moved his legs in a circular motion, using mega Kick to trip Jose and then jumping up to punch him into the stomach with Mach Punch and the wizard saint crashed into the ground.

" **Dark Pulse!** " Jose shouted and a series of explosions rippled across the area around him and Rex flew up into the sky. He then switched to Mega Sceptile and fired shades that raced across the battlefield to strike down the pokémon but instead they were torn apart by a Night Slash that appeared like several quick flashes to Jose.

Dashing right towards her Jose attempted to punch her with his magic and slow her down but Mega Sceptile waited until the last moment and jumped over him, spinning around and striking him with Leaf blade several times. Focusing on the beast made Jose briefly forget about Rex who flew down and then tackled Jose from behind with Aerial Ace.

"Grrrrrr…" Jose growled and felt his rage building again.

Swiftly turning around Rex kicked out at his face and Jose caught it with a black orb that shocked Rex with an electric like effect, ignoring the pain he then fired a Scald from his mouth and Jose's face was swamped with the boiling water and released Rex from the spell. Pausing from the attack Jose took a moment to wipe off the water from his face and the stinging sensation flared up.

Pointing a finger a red light ran across the stage in an arc pattern and they ran forwards to avoid the wave of dark energy that rushed across the ground and with a Sacred Sword in his hand Rex began unleashing strong sweeping strikes alongside Mega Sceptile who was also attacking with a flurry of strikes.

The combined forces of the attacking were pushing Jose back who could only defending himself or reduce the strength of the attack with his magic until he saw a brief opening and a wave of his shade magic blasted out and broke through their attacks and sent them further backwards because they didn't expect it. A second spell was charging up in his hand a purple seal appeared in the air as he shouted, " **Dead Wave!** "

A scream rang out through the air as the laser raced towards them, this variant being split up into several spread out beams that aimed towards different parts of the giant and purple domes of energy formed where they struck. All of them struck at the same time and shook the giant from the impact.

All of the guild couldn't see what happened in those explosions, but they were hoping that Rex hadn't taken serious damage from the spell and once again there was no sign of either of them once most of the smoke had subsided.

"Where are you, fairy pest?" Jose asked and charged up small orbs at the tips of his fingers and started firing them across the field. Each orb distorting the air when it hit but Jose could tell that none of them had managed to land a hit on his intended target and began looking around more to try and find him.

Hearing something faint, Jose looked up in confusion and saw something coming down from above and there was an object that slowly became clearer, a streaking green object and Jose almost instantly realised what it was. " **Phantom Spiral!** " He shouted and fired the tornado right into the air.

A black and red tipped double X appeared in the sky that cut through most of the energy and split it apart into four separate streams of shade magic as Mega Sceptile dived down towards Jose and the struck with a cross move and there was a larger open tear in Jose's uniform.

Out of an instinctual rage Jose then fired a burst of purple orbs right at Sceptile's back and she was thrown off of the giant from the force of five orbs impacting at the same time and began falling down towards the water.

Swooping down from above Rex saved her though the impact still sent them down and he narrowly averted splashing into the water. Once his sense of balance came back to him thanks to Mega Sceptile climbing onto his back Rex saw that the tip of his wing was touching the surface of the water and spraying it upwards.

"That was too close for comfort." Mega Sceptile complained.

"What a wonderful way to say you're welcome." Rex responded, briefly smiling in amusement and then flew up so that everyone else could see him including Jose.

Landing back down on the Giant there was a look of shock upon the wizards face and he stood there shaking quietly for several seconds, with both of them knowing that his rage was about explode and spread their feet apart in spite of what was going on, still ready to continue fighting. There were no more words from Jose at the moment, he was too angry to speak and began casting spells without calling them out.

A large purple sea appeared in front of Jose and the energy began spiralling towards it – the sign of another Dead Wave coming right at them and it roared with a wider radius and purple sparks crackled around the outside. Bracing themselves they dashed to the side and watched as it tore through the ground with the air sizzling beside them.

Two eel-like shades appeared and shot towards Rex and Sceptile at a speed that cold give Crobat a run for his money with Rex using Quick Attack to avoid it and Sceptile simply waited for it to get closer before stepping to the side and dashing past it with a single leap. Several more of those shades arced towards Sceptile whose arms and chest glowed with a black and red blade and then circled around on the spot, striking the shades that tried to wrap themselves around her.

Spotting another one heading towards him Rex stood up straight and then called out, " **Flash Cannon!** " and fired a silver orb of energy from his hand, the beam piercing and dispelling the shade.

Letting out another snarl of anger Jose then leaped forwards towards Rex and his whole body was surrounded with shade magic and then threw an outstretched hand with a palm of magic concentrated towards it.

Reacting on instinct Rex's left hand balled into a fist and then turned to steel as he used Meteor Mash and aimed right at the palm where the magic was concentrated towards and it was something that he would immediately come to regret too, as there was a stinging sensation shooting up his left arm.

Not giving the other pest room to move Jose then twisted his body the other way and shot a purple bullet from his free hand and Sceptile reacted by jumping backwards and then forwards again to get in close, right up to a large purple seal. She froze upon feeling the intensity of the magic coming from that one spot – it was contempt and anger concentrated into that spell.

"Move Sceptile!" Rex ordered with a shout, he was slowly getting pushed down.

A purple wave of energy blasted from the seal and at least from his perspective there was no sight of Mega Sceptile, there was a moment when Rex felt his heart skip a beat. This made him slack slightly and Jose increased his strength to pin Rex down into the ground and applying pressure to his chest again.

Jose's anger began to fade down with the assumption that he had finally one and began gathering magic towards one of his fingers and pointed in a rather dramatic fashion towards the one constant pest throughout the conflict. "Finally… no more annoying interruptions… no more witty jokes, you have nothing left!"

It was another statement that ticked off Rex more than he would care to admit and replied in a defiant tone, "There was only one time when I had nothing left Jose, and now is not going to be that time!"

Not expecting that sort of answer Jose narrowed his eyes in confusion before demanding, "What does a worthless pest like you have left?! Can't you see that you're on the brink of defeat?!"

Relieving some of the pressure was enough for Rex to blast Jose away with a Tri-Attack before getting back up and it was just now that the opposing wizard had noticed a slight change in him. The golden eyes were turning red as he got back up towards Jose with a look that was a cross between confusion and amusement.

"What do I have left? A lot actually, my partners standing over there, the guild that still remains despite the Hall being knocked down and we're still not beaten in case you haven't realised." Rex replied.

Upon hearing the plural of the word Jose turned around to see that Mega Sceptile was still there but there were burn marks from that last spell on her body and face. "How did you survive that?!" Jose demanded with a hiss.

"Not easy, I tried blocking it at first, but the close proximity of the magic circle made it hard to keep it up, so I had to dash out of the way. That was probably a bad idea." Mega Sceptile answered with a slight red blush, embarrassed.

There was no response form Jose who began to shake again from anger, unable to keep it from visibly showing on his face as there was a vein that was pulsing on his forehead. A moment of silence passed between the three of them despite the fact that Jose was at a volcanic range and there was a constant growl. Not only that but what magic power left seemed to resonate with his anger as a purple aura began flaring up for seconds at a time.

As Rex's arms sparked with electricity Jose turned to face him and the frown was then replaced with a smile as he said, "So when I beat you it really will be a shock to your system." as he then fired a Thunderbolt.

Jose dodged it and there was a prideful look on his face, and saw that it struck Mega Sceptile instead, the pokémon that Rex was aiming for and then boasted, "Was that really your great trick, fire a spark of electricity at me?"

"I know who I was aiming for Jose." This comment made him quickly turn around to see that Mega Sceptile was unaffected by the electric attack and was surrounded by a red aura after it subsided.

Seeing this caused a great deal of confusion amongst the Fairy Tail members. "I don't get it, why didn't Sceptile avoid that attack? Shouldn't she have been affected by it?" Gray asked.

"Even is she was affected by that attack it would do little anyway, Sceptile is one of the few pokémon that changes type upon Mega Evolving – in this case she gains the Dragon typing." Magmortar explained.

"DRAGON?!" They all shouted and Natsu was the only one to be eager about it.

As if by magic the injuries miraculously healed themselves and he clung to Magmortar with a look of adoration in his eyes. "You mean an actual dragon?!"

"No she isn't, now get off of me! Being a grass and dragon type means that electric attacks would do a quarter of their normal damage if it weren't for her change in ability." Magmortar scowled and then Natsu's jaw dropped and the injuries flared up again as he sulked in pain.

"Whatever this new ability it must affect the way electric moves work then, correct?" Erza deduced, keeping her eyes on the fight and closely watching it, knowing that he wouldn't attack her out of the green, er, blue like that.

"I think you're losing it boy if you would attack one of your own, otherwise-"

A blue orb was thrown right into Jose's back and he stumbled forwards from that attack and turned back in anger to look at whoever was responsible. Mega Sceptile was grinning as her arm was outstretched as she lowered it. "That one had to sting Jose, right?" She asked.

" **DEAD WAVE!** " Jose roared.

Instead of being scared or surprised like last time the grin on Mega Sceptile's face spread out even further as there was a blue light shining from her mouth and once the spell fired she unleashed her own attack. A blue and purple beam shot out from an orb formed in front of her with a dragon shaped head and the point of contact was signalled by a bright explosion of energy.

When it cleared neither side had gained the advantage in the struggle and Rex took his chance to also strike Jose from behind with a Mega Punch and then switched into the Earth Plate and summoned a blue bone that he held out in one hand as Jose approached him and began parrying blows that were infused with his magic.

Creating a second Bone Rush he then smacked Jose across the face before throwing them at his body like a spear and they both nailed Jose into the chest as Mega Sceptile attacked with another Focus Blast that sent Jose crashing down into the ground. "Perish to the **Phantom Skull!** " Jose declared almost in an act of desperation as he fired a large black orb towards Skull.

"If you think we're gonna sink to the darkness, you haven't seen the light of my **Dragon Pulse!** " Mega Sceptile retorted and fired the beam at the spell.

As if it had heard the pokémon who used the move the mouth opened to imitate the roar though not sound came out as it pierced through Jose's spell. It was a sight to see the brilliant coloured beam piercing Jose's spell as a shockwave of purple magic ripped through the air.

This made the wizard stop in complete shock, beforehand the other pest had struggled to beat it but one move from the rat overpowered it completely – another sneak attack by Rex snapped him back into focus and he turned around and fired a burst of magic towards that cracked the ground where it impacted.

 _Impossible, that rat can't have beaten that spell! There is no way… no way that I'll lose!_ Jose thought with a scowl on his face before a vicious grin replaced it and dodged an attack from Sceptile that narrowly missed him but the force of the explosion threw him off and then a burst of shade magic spread out away from Jose.

It didn't matter to Jose who needed the opening to raise a hand a purple seal began to form and appear, spreading out so that it was a lot larger than the spells he had normally cast and a pitch-black sphere began forming in front of it, one of the side affect being that sparks were flying all across the battlefield.

"What's going on now?" Lucy cried out as the ground began to shake slightly.

"I have this really bad desire to pee all of a sudden!" Happy cried out and she smacked him out of fright.

For the first time since he had woken up from unconsciousness Makarov had a worried expression on his face and then spoke in a slight panic, "That spell is a dangerous one, if Rex gets hits by this we might all be in serious trouble!"

Hearing this sort of tone made everyone turn to face the Master with their mouths open in amazement – there had been moments of panic from him before, but it was usually associated with other members (chiefly Natsu) doing outrageous stunts that got the guild in trouble with the Magic Council.

"It's not forbidden is it?" Erza asked with her eyes wide.

Makarov shook his head. "No, but the potential of this spell is why the Council heavily regulates the usage and even learning of the spell."

"Yeah but, how is the spell itself bad?" Nab asked, something that Makarov was hesitant in replying.

When the magic circle was finished the layout then changed and the large sphere shrunk down to about the size of a head and was coated in red crackles of energy. "Now succumb to the power of the **Phantom Mercy!** "

Splitting apart into four smaller but equally sized orbs it shot out towards them and when they got closer split apart like a net and then began zapping Rex with magic energy. Not missing a beat though, Mega Sceptile tried to slash at the net but found that it wasn't quite the same type of magic compared to the other spells that she easily tore through and switched to her standard Leaf Blade. For Rex, being struck by all of them and then being shocked by all of them at the same time was messing with his ability to think and process what was happening to him – it felt like his consciousness was being attacked.

"Can't focus… help me out…" He managed to say as he tried to pry off the nets that were moving across his body in a creepy fashion, almost as if the spell was alive.

 _Gotta focus, because the whole Guild is counting on me… the Master, Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Erza, Levy, Cana, my team, Mira. But… it would be so much easier… to just drift away…_ Rex thought and despite getting hit accidentally by Mega Sceptile a couple of times the sense of pain was dulled and it felt more like a tickle than something that hurt.

What happened next was unclear to Rex but it seemed as if the spell had failed, likely through some sort of subconscious emotion that stopped the spell from completely taking hold as from the outside the energy stopped before hissing and slowly disintegrating. "It's failing?!" Jose hissed in astonishment.

As the warmth rushed back into his body the first thing he registered was Mega Sceptile and he then shook himself awake but still slightly weary about the last spell. "How did you that?" She asked with a grin on her face.

"I haven't a clue what you're going on about Sceptile… and I mean it this time. Or if I did break free then it must have been for some other reason." Rex replied in confusion and the evolved lizard perked up at this, slightly worried by what he had just said.

But that wasn't his main concern though as the warmth rushed back into his body he looked at the stunned face of Jose Porla who was beside himself about what happened. Now that the haziness was clear Rex remembered what was going on and then narrowed his eyes at the remaining fighter in this conflict.

"It's over Jose, since that failed I'm guessing your reaching your limit too. You're pitiful you know that, all of that power and wealth that you've chosen to throw away in a single day because of your ego. Even though I'm exhausted as well, what keeps me going is the desire to protect the guild, a bond that you'll never understand." Rex stated confidently despite his body being heavily injured and bleeding in several places.

"NONSENSE! BEING ON TOP DOES MATTER AND I'LL DO WHAT IT TAKES!" Jose shouted and then fired a Dead Wave that Mega Sceptile blocked with a Dragon Pulse, this time the blue and purple beam overpowered his shade magic and struck him in the chest.

Leaping forwards alongside the move, Rex switched into the Fist Plate and then attacked with a Force Palm to Jose's chest and then used Mega Kick to send him into the ground. Despite his magic still being available Jose was too incensed and then began throwing punches of his own that Rex began dodging with ease.

This didn't faze Rex much as he dodged the blows and began countering them with Mach Punches and mirroring Jose as he intercepted punches, each impact creating a series of shockwaves that rippled through the area.

Getting caught off guard by one punch Rex immediately used Revenge and struck Jose with an orange aura, then wrapped his arms around Jose's body and then used the weight of the guild master to throw him back onto the floor with Circle Throw, landing on the Jose's stomach.

Flinching from the critical damage to his stomach and gagging, Rex switched to the Flame Plate and then immediately unleashing a Fire Blast close up, the angle of the flames pushing Jose across the giant and dragging him through the ground.

Punching the ground an Earthquake began tearing up the giant and more pieces broke away and fell into the lake. The legs of the giants were creating waves through the water that crashed against the cliffs and there were slight tremors that the other members of the guild could feel, Mega Sceptile dug a claw into the ground to stop herself from falling over.

"How?" Jose coughed out.

Instead of answering Rex blocked a punch with his own Fire Punch and then lifted Jose into the air with a Blaze Kick, Jose's head reeling back from the force and when the pair of wizards came into view fired a Dead Wave at them.

"Don't you understand what I said earlier?" He finally spoke after switching into the Sky Plate and flying up to meet Jose, below him Mega Sceptile dodged the beam and watched it tear through the ground.

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU SAY!" Jose shouted.

A group of his phantom soldiers materialised in the air and began menacingly approaching him but Rex didn't worry and instead began flapping his wings, a Heat Wave spreading out in front of him and the intense wave of fire burned away the shades before they could reform completely along with Jose.

There was a mix of anger and shock on Jose's face with the reality dawning upon him that he was going to lose made him just stop for several moments and Rex then dived towards Jose with Brave Bird, and a few second before they hit the ground Rex was coated with sparkling blue energy.

Crashing into the ground made the cracks from the battle spread out more and Jose found himself shaking slightly and tried to use another attack, but the shadow of Rex fell upon on him and the slight glowing red eyes made him wonder what was going to happen.

"I told you that the guild is a family, one of two that I'm apart of alongside the creatures that I call to my side. But you can never hope to achieve the level of strength that Fairy Tail has as long as you only care about being at the top. For Shadow Gear, for Lucy, for Starmie and for Fairy Tail, that attack is the end."

After the lecture Rex switched back into the Fist Plate and then began punching the floored Jose slowly at first but then the speed of the attack began increase – chest, stomach, arms and everywhere else on the upper half of Jose's body including his face. Despite the attempts to get back up and use his magic Jose was practically out of thanks to those last groups of shades, did that one Spell he attempted earlier drain most of it away? Those thoughts kept Jose open to his attack and Rex ignored the pain that was shooting through his body as he kept on punching with a single kick thrown in between his legs for good measure.

Drawing back his fist it then flashed and then roared out, " **Dynamic Punch!** " and there was a shockwave as Jose was driven down further into the floor of the giant.

Silence filled the air for a good minute and the only thing that could be made out was the slow and steady breathing coming from Rex who waited for another potential last ditch move from Jose Porla, but when it became clear that he was indeed unconscious Rex got down to his knees. After seeing that Sceptile had returned to normal a grin crossed his face as he then lifted a fist up in triumph.

"Victory!" Rex shouted, breaking the silence.

Almost immediately a cheer could be heard from the guild and it was loud enough for the whole town to hear it, almost all of whom only got glimpses from afar but let out a sigh of relief when they heard the recognisable cheers. Whatever was going on had finally ended, they could only imagine the sort of chaos that had gone on, and the cheers continued for several long minutes.

Once the cheering had died down Rex turned and slowly began walking only to stumble and nearly fall forwards, Sceptile catching him. Now that the guild master had gone down a greater sense of fatigue was setting in and this was best emphasised by his constant panting and gulping for more air.

Makarov walked over to the ruins of the giant, unable to hide the smile on his face and there were tears of joy running down his cheek. "Thank you, my boy. I knew that you could do it." He congratulated.

Looking over towards their fallen master Rex then asked, "So what'll happen to him?"

Getting closer, Makarov stopped by Jose and took a good long look at his bloodied and injured face and winced inwardly at the damage that had been done not only to his body but also to his pride. "It really is a shame, as a Wizard Saint he could have used all of that power to help lead the next generation of wizards. These kinds of actions should result in the Council stripping him of that title."

"Can we get moving, Sceptile doesn't want to help Rex stand forever?" Sceptile asked, a touch impatiently.

Neither person disagreed with the statement and they slowly began trudging back to the guild hall at a slow pace to ensure that there wasn't too much stress on the trainer. Seemingly unbeknownst to them, Aria appeared with his hands outstretched for one last sneak attack. _Our master has fallen, how tragic. But they have left themselves wide open for-_

A giant fist slammed into Aria and knocked him out with a single blow without Makarov turning back to face him, spooking the pair. "I do not wish to bring any more harm to your guild, but if you push me any further then you will be responsible for what happens when I get angry beyond reason." Makarov calmly informed Aria.

Turning around he spoke in his usual tone and stated, "So you kids be good now, the Magic Council will be watching you very carefully after this."

Once the trio had reached the other guild members Rex was instantly mobbed by the other members who crowded around him, primarily consisting of Gray, Elfman, Natsu, and Happy. The rest were surrounding them until Magmortar got annoyed at this and shot some fire into the air, delivering the unspoken message to back down a bit.

"That was incredible!" Gray blurted out, unable to stop grinning.

"Taking down a Wizard Saint was incredible manly!" Elfman agreed and smacked him on the bad, making Rex gasp for air and a glare from Crobat silenced him.

"I wanna rematch right now!" Natsu demanded.

Lucy however pulled on his ear, unamused by this as she yelled, "You've already been badly beaten up by Gajeel! What chance do you have against him?!" and made the dragon slayer jump from the volume.

"Put some clothes on Gray." Cana and Rex commented which made the ice wizard looked down in confusion.

Seeing Erza and Mirajane make their way through the crowd made Rex extremely nervous about what their reactions would be, and interestingly he was worried about the pair for different reasons. It was fairly obvious with the scarlet haired wizard as she had a habit of being forceful when giving out and was dreading being smacked into the breastplate again. As for the older Strauss sibling, Rex wasn't aware of it yet but everyone else could see his face slowly going red when he froze and looked at her.

Coughing, Erza got his attention and she gently placed an appreciative arm on his shoulder. "Well done Rex. Though I was unable to assist you and Sceptile it seems that my concerns were for naught."

"Uh… thanks?" Rex blinked in surprise.

Instead of saying anything Mirajane gently pulled Rex into a hug which he eventually returned gingerly more for his own sake than opposed to doing something that might upset her. Nothing happened aside from raised eyebrows and Elfman in particular seemed to feel uncertain about what was going on.

When they separated Makarov coughed to gain their attention. "Though our Guild Hall is in ruins we are victorious! I have you all to thank for this victory, my children. Be proud that you are a member of Fairy Tail!" He spoke out and everyone began cheering again in celebration.

Placing both hands on his knees, Rex felt everything spinning and muttered something that got the attention of the others and then it faded to black. It was the exhaustion that caught up with him and caused him to black out with the nearest wizards managing to catch him.

* * *

Waking up he found himself back in the Magnolia Hospital once again and for a moment wondered if he was back when Gajeel had beaten him up until he looked out of the window and was unable to see the Guild Hall – though he could hear the faint sounds of commotion coming from that way and the sounds of construction.

"Ooohhhh… how long was I out this time?"

"Nearly twenty hours. When you got into the hospital Mirajane and a couple of others stood by your side until night when she left for home." Makarov explained, and Rex started towards him.

Rex raised his eyebrow in slight surprise, he had expected someone like Natsu or Gray to stand guard but Mirajane watching over him was a surprise. Porlyusica grumbled something that neither of them could make out, not that it bothered Rex as he looked back at Makarov and asked, "So what's the state of the guild hall?"

At this question Makarov sighed and then shook his head as he gave the awkward answer, "Well we have to tear down everything first before we can work on rebuilding it – I've had Mirajane help plan things out before we can start construction."

Putting his feet down on the floor Rex felt his body jerk slightly from the pain but his battle with Gajeel seemed to have made the pain from Jose not feel as bad as it probably is. "Are you sure you want to move right in the condition you're in?" Porlyusica asked sharply.

"Well there is no fighting, so I'll be okay as long as I don't overexert myself." Rex pointed out.

"I see. Well then… GET OUT OF MY SIGHT RIGHT NOW!" The doctor replied as she brandished her broom and began swinging at them as they made a hasty exit with Makarov pushing Rex out to avoid the risk of his injuries flaring up and hurting them.

Most of the light heartedness faded when they reached the guild hall which was a myriad of activity from all of the members with lots of construction equipment though right now the focus was on the base of the new hall. Erza was in a construction worker outfit and barking out orders to everyone, holding a sheet of paper in her hands which Rex guessed were the basis for the new hall. "Natsu, stop messing around and help lay the bricks down! Gray, put some clothes on! Your drink break is over Cana now resume the construction of the new guild hall! Wakaba and Macao, help set up the temporary camp, stop slacking off Elfman this new hall won't build itself!"

"Geez, what's got into her?" Natsu asked and grumbled as he began dragging a large white brick across the floor with some slight difficulty whilst Gray ran around to find his clothes.

Elfman was also helping to lay down the bricks and his sheer physical strength made it easier to carry the bricks for him and he firmly put one down next to another one and the ground shook slightly. "A real man doesn't stop complain about his work!" He proudly proclaimed.

"So where's Lucy in all of this?" Gray asked, now back with his clothes on. Then he gripped them to make sure that they were still on and then let out a sigh of relief before getting into his two handed stance and using his ice magic to help carry the bricks and lay them down on one of the walls.

"I think she's in her home recovering from Gajeel's injuries, unfortunately she can't really do anything right now." Cana pointed out with a slight edge in her tone. Even though they spent most of the previous day relaxing having defeated Phantom Lord the amount of work needed to spend on the guild meant less drinking time for her.

"I got beat up by Gajeel too! Why don't I get a break from this work?" Natsu complained.

"It's because she can't stand that level of beating Natsu. You're a lot more durable than her." Happy pointed out, who wasn't doing a thing to help. Seeing his point, Natsu continued to skulk and continued with his work.

Sceptile was handling a large white chunk of stone and then her blades began flashing green as she slashed at the stone several times before retracting them and the stone split into half a dozen bricks. "Well Rex had to fight their master and two of their best so Sceptile isn't surprised that Rex won't be able to help much if at all." She added.

"Rex got lucky that's all. I could have easily beaten the crap out of Jose." Natsu retorted.

"Yeah right, lizard breath." Gray snorted.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Natsu shouted in retaliation.

Both of them were silenced by Erza smacking them lightly and they grumbled but chose to work instead of arguing. Turning around there was a smile on Erza's face upon seeing that Rex was walking around again and then stopped to walk up to the pair. "It's good to see that you're up and about Rex."

"Yeah, though I won't be able to do anything at the moment." Rex replied and looked over at the site – there was nothing of the old hall left that he could make out and to his left there were a group of benches along with some small wooden buildings. A makeshift bar and noticeboard were being constructed courtesy of Wakaba and Macao.

Mirajane was also present, though she was carrying a book and placed it on the desk of the bar and was alerted to their presence. "Hello Master, good morning Rex!" She greeted with a smile on her face.

 _Did she just greet me like that?_ Rex thought. He wasn't the only one who also realised that, as the two older members of the guild.

A purple flying bat soared in from the right and nearly collided with Rex and was stopped by a hand from Mirajane and there was a brief moment in which he saw the impression left by her hand on his face. Crobat looked upset though got the message and slowly landed on his shoulder with a look of relief on his face and snuggled closer towards his trainer with an embarrassed look.

"You didn't see anything right?" Crobat asked innocently.

"See what?" Rex replied, going along with that and acting like nothing had happened. It was the time to relax and for the moment would play along with Crobat – seeing only a slight handprint from Mirajane on his face made it had for him to keep his laughter in.

"So how are you feeling?" Mirajane asked, walking over to the table Rex sat down at.

"A lot better, though I'm surprised that you stayed with me in the hospital."

This made Mirajane blush slightly and she coughed as she replied, "Well I wanted to thank you for saving the guild, though you obviously passed out before I could that."

"I don't think I heard myself before I passed out, that's how bad the injuries were. A few days without any jobs or fighting should be more than enough time for my body to completely heal. Since everyone's here I'm guessing the Council haven't arrived here yet." Rex mused to himself and looked around at the area. Despite the intensity of yesterday's battle leaving him plenty of adrenaline relaxing felt easier than it probably should have been.

"Well they work fast so they're going to send a lot of Rune Knights today or tomorrow." Mirajane guessed and seeing the sudden panic from Rex made her giggle unexpectedly. "It's okay, they won't be interested in the source of your powers."

Opening his mouth to agree Rex closed it and frowned as he then remembered the first meeting with the Magic Council, whilst it may be true in regard to the conflict it would be wrong to say that none of them were interested. Siegrain and possibly Ultear seemed to take a particular interest in what he could do exactly.

 _I know that at least two of them are._ Rex thought.

"Is something wrong?" Mirajane asked.

"Nah, just thinking about the Council. It's not that I have to worry about them but… it's more what they could do that is an issue."

"You're really worried about a bunch of old farts, are you even our trainer?" Zangoose teased as she walked over and then scowled, "What do you want?"

Flying over Happy went right up to her with a look of admiration on his face – seeing the white cat like pokémon made him instantly enamoured with her and he began following her. "Oh wow, I didn't realise you had a cat pokémon! He's so cool!"

Zangoose whacked him over the head with the side of her claw. "First off I'm a cat ferret, not a complete cat! Secondly don't worship me like that, it's kinda creepy. Don't you dare think about laughing Rex!" She added, seeing his cheeks puffing out of the corner of her eyes and struggling to contain his laughter.

"Aww but I like you Zangoose. Could you _please_ show me how to attack with your claws?" Happy begged with hearts in his eyes.

"He got over that attack pretty quickly." Macao remarked.

"I think you need to have longer claws for that to happen. Or some of kind of form that allows you to actually fight." Zangoose responded, reluctantly deciding to relent but wasn't sure if the blue cat could really perform some sort of claw like attack in that small round form. These comments made Happy freeze and then start tearing up much to her surprise. "Hey I didn't mean it like that furball!"

"You meanie!" Happy shouted and then flew away in tears.

"Back to zero fans it seems." Rex noted and Zangoose looked at the floor in dejection.

"Come on now, turn that frown upside down! We could probably help with the reconstruction, let's see if Erza can give us some work." Crobat cheered as he flew over to rest on her head, making Zangoose look like she was a head taller with purple wings on the head.

Looking up she couldn't quite see him but the weight on her head was unmistakable and then said whilst she waved her claws above her head, "Sure, just don't stay on my head."

Seeing this interaction made Mirajane want to know a bit more about the white pokémon who had just entered and asked, "Who was that pokémon?"

Jumping up slightly and waking up again after nearly dozing off Rex initially didn't understand but a moment later he realised what she had asked and then began to explain, "That pokémon is Zangoose, and unlike most pokémon the species are incapable of evolving. Originally the red stuff on their fur was blood from their feud."

Parts of that confused Mirajane. "Feud?"

A nervous grin was plastered across Rex's face and he coughed nervously. "That is not something you want to bring up around Zangoose."

"Why not?" Cana asked, making Rex jump.

This had also interested Gray and Natsu who walked over and they were currently on a short break given to them courtesy of Erza, though the work done by them was clearly tiring them out as they sat down at the bench and took their minds of the gruelling work. "I didn't know that that pokémon held a grudge."

"Sort of Gray, the feud that Zangoose has doesn't just apply to her but rather the Zangoose species as a whole. It's a historical feud with a species known as Seviper." Rex spoke this word and then made to bring something out but then realised two things, one being that his jacket wasn't on right at the moment and the other was more important. "Normally I would take out the Pokedex but I remembered that I didn't have it on me."

"Poké-what?" Natsu asked.

"Pokédex Natsu, it's an electronic device that acts like a universal encyclopaedia on all of the known pokémon in the world and I left it back in my world." Rex explained, trailing off at the end with a slight groan.

Standing there in confusion for a moment Natsu then asked, "What does that mean?"

"It means that the Pokedex is an electric library." Mirajane explained.

"Why didn't he just say that in the first place?" Natsu asked.

"I DID!" Rex protested, an annoyed look on his face.

Gray sighed and shook his head. "That's what happens when you don't have a brain."

Instantly Natsu set a fist on fire and got right up in his face and demanded, "What did you yah icy stripper?!"

Mist began swirling around Gray's body as he got in his two-handed stand and glared right back at the pink haired wizard. "You heard me dragon breath!" Gray shouted in retaliation.

Cana glared at both of them as there was a barrel of alcohol next to her – one of a number that was still available in the guild following the conflict with Phantom Lord. "Do not start fighting right now!" She demanded, raising her tone and a card threateningly at them.

"So what do you mean Zangoose can't evolve? Can't all of these pokémon evolve?" Mirajane asked.

"No, it's estimated that around 85-90% of all the known pokémon are incapable of evolution. Why that is exactly is not known." Rex explained, thinking about how more of his stuff was back in his residence in Mauville Hills.

Anything that was going to be said was interrupted by a large group of people heading this way with clanking being heard by everyone. Initially the guild members looked ready to fight but when it was revealed that the noise belonged to a platoon of Rune Knights there was a lot of panicking from various Guild Members, Natsu in particular had the bright idea of attempting to run away but instead was caught in a blue magic circle of some kind that the leader of the platoon had casted and hovered in the air. "Do not attempt to escape!" He droned, a line practiced hundreds of times before.

"Natsu, you should think before trying to run." Rex sighed and Mirajane giggled at the sight.

It came to the surprise of no one that Rex and Makarov would be hauled once again towards the Magic Council – though the mention of the Multitype wizard did raise a few eyebrows amongst the group. Though it was then explained that whilst Makarov would face most of the questioning about the conflict between the two guilds, the Council also wanted to talk to Rex in particular about Jose Porla himself. Other members were to be questioned by the rest of platoon as they were stationed in Magnolia for the questioning period.

 _Back here again, how lovely._ Rex thought two days later on the coach to Era once more and saw Makarov shaking and mumbling something about prison underneath his breath. Hopefully the Council wouldn't try to do anything, or he would make them regret it – even if it would probably do more bad than good.

Once they had entered the courtroom there was a moment of silence and then the leader of the Council, Crawford Seam, let out a sigh but said nothing and waited for the frog who had led them their to start. "The Council calls forth Makarov Dreyar to the stand."

Several hours went by as he was questioned by various members of the council as they asked him all sorts of questions that pertained to the start of the conflict and the damage done to the guild hall as well as his involvement in it. During that he nearly fell asleep much to their annoyance and it was only through the threat of prison time kept him from falling asleep completely.

"You may return to your seating Makarov Dreyar. Rex Vermend will now take the stand."

Getting back up once again another moment of silence passed between the two of them before Crawford was the first to speak up. "We must admit that it's a surprise to see you here again so soon."

Biting back a snappy response Rex spoke in a polite albeit slightly forced tone. "Well I didn't either, though I would like to know why you summoned me alongside Master Makarov – there isn't much else for me to contribute."

"At first there isn't but as a member of the Ten Wizard Saints it should be next to impossible for the rest of the wizarding world. What we would like is a detailed account of the fight and how you were able to beat him." Michello pointed out.

Raising an eyebrow at this rather strange request Rex replied, "I fail to see the relevance to the questioning."

"Allow me to elaborate a bit more." Siegrain spoke up and hearing his voice made Rex immediately weary and freeze in place. "The reason for your account of the fight with Jose is simply a way to crosscheck the facts that have already been established through the other members of the guild and from there the council will make a decision."

 _Well that makes sense. Still, I'm not sure how much the others told about Sceptile though I hope that Natsu didn't go on about her being part Dragon._ Rex thought and then nodded in agreement.

Clearing his throat Rex then dived into his story and only stopped to either take a breath or answer the few questions that popped up – when it came to the decision as to whether or not Mega Sceptile should be explained he chose not to for better or worse. Finally, when he finished talking about his battle with Jose the Council took a few moments to discuss this event and make a note of what did match up owing to what the other guild members could tell.

"According to Natsu Dragneel one of the creatures that you can summon is also a dragon and that it fought alongside you, is that correct?" Org asked.

 _Thanks a lot Natsu._ Rex thought to himself and inwards grumbled before answering, "No, whilst Sceptile is a lizard she isn't related towards a dragon. Natsu has a habit of getting certain details wrong."

"That isn't a surprise." Yajima observed.

"Are you sure about that? Considering that we know nothing about your kind of summoning magic it would be a good idea if you didn't lie to us." Org asked, his eyes hardening upon the ex-Fairy Tail wizard.

"Given the description that we've been given from several other members does anything about her sound like a dragon?" Ultear pointed out, not breaking her composure throughout the questioning. This annoyed Org because she did have a point about the green lizard and silently agreed, nodding without saying.

"Are there anymore questions?" Rex asked.

"Just a few more details about your Multitype magic. First one being how many forms you can change into, and then how many more forms could there be if any?" Org answered.

 _Better to not say the exact number otherwise they really would lose it._ "Well when I first joined Fairy Tail I had five forms, but I gained two more since then. I'm not sure how many more there are if any."

This remark caused a bit of debate amongst the various members of the council before the chairman replied with a hint of annoyance, "That isn't a very helpful answer. It could mean anything." When he saw that Rex was deliberately maintaining his silence in a way that dared Crawford to challenge it the round chairman relented. "Very well. The final verdict will be revealed in 30 minutes."

It felt more like an excuse to waste their time more than anything and Rex was more than prepared to beat it into their heads about their innocence in this whole conflict. Thankfully it didn't have to come to that at all as the Magic Council amazingly unanimously agreed that Fairy Tail wasn't to be blamed at all for their part in the conflict and that Phantom Lord would not only be disbanded but also that Jose would be stripped of his title as one of the Ten Wizard Saints.

Later on that day, Yajima and Makarov were on their own and talking about what had just happened, and the Master made the tough decision to inform Yajima of what was really going on with Rex. "It's quite a story isn't it Yajima?" Makarov concluded as they sat on the railings and looked down at the town.

Yajima didn't know what to say. Normally his eyes were visible but this time they were both wide in amazement and was able to at least stop himself from shouting it out loud. "That… might be the biggest understatement ever Makarov. Do you know… what would happen if the Council found out how much I knew about it."

"I'm not worried about their bluster. As long as they don't interfere with Rex everything will be fine." Makarov assured.

"I'm not so sure. They would be apoplectic about this and immediately look into ways about stopping him if he goes rogue." Yajima warned in a serious tone.

"Hmmm..." Makarov mused and then looked up as he finally spoke, "One thing I wasn't expecting was Fairy Tail to be absolved of any blame."

"This time we were lucky, but it's going to run out shortly Makarov. Several of the other members have been talking about disbanding Fairy Tail for good – Michello and Org are the primary advocates for it. I might not be able to stop it one day." Yajima continued and Makarov said nothing. "You should really consider nominating someone to take over from you."

It was the most logical thing to do, but Makarov snorted and frowned. "The problem lies in the candidates, so retiring is unlikely at the moment."

"Give it some serious consideration, won't you? Because you're not getting any younger and we don't want to end up with another incident like Rob, don't go like he did okay?" Yajima suggested calmly and with an upset look on his face.

A heavy sigh could be heard as Makarov felt something pierce his heart. "Of course I haven't, how could I forget?" He asked in a hushed tone and began thinking back to when they were still in Fairy Tail and on the same team together. It felt like forever since those days though back then they were giving the Magic Council back then grief.

When the next day rolled over they were taken back to Magnolia Town and Makarov was the one to announce the conclusion much to the relief of everyone present and they celebrate for several minutes right before having to go back to work at Erza's insistence. Now that he had gotten enough time for his body to relax and heal up Rex was going to assist with the reconstruction of the guild hall which felt different for some reason but the multitype wizard couldn't quite figure out yet as his task was to help carry wooden logs to support the structure of the new guild.

A loud triumphant laugh caught his attention and he saw Natsu attempting to carry nine of them at once and collapsed under the weight of it. "Oh Natsu…" Mirajane sighed.

Gray walked by wearing his jeans and was only carrying a single wooden beam, unable to resist making a comment. "That's what you get for carrying so many ya moron."

Natsu suddenly got the strength to throw them all away and growled, "What d'you call me?"

"You got a problem?" "YEAH I GOT A PROBLEM WITH YOUR FACE!"

From behind a wall, Juvia was watching (stalking) Gray and got excited when he started arguing with Natsu. "Oh my Gray I'd wish you carry me instead!" She whispered with hearts in her eyes.

A wooden beam hit them with enough force to bury them several feet into the ground courtesy of Erza Scarlet who was wearing a construction outfit complete with a yellow hard hat. "That's enough! Get back to work, so no more lollygagging!"

"Aye…" They complained.

Jet and Droy were not so lucky and their injuries forced them to stay in bandages and slings/crutch. "I really wouldn't want to work for Erza." Jet winced at the impact.

"Did she requip into outfit?" Droy asked, thinking about the number of requippable outfits she had.

Makarov was wearing a similar getup to Erza, using his Titan magic to make himself bigger and firmly push a wooden beam into place and the sound of Erza calling him out made him pay attention to her. "Hey boss! Where do you want me to put this piece of lumber?"

"Hm… over there." Makarov pointed using his thumb.

"Now she's calling him boss?" They both asked in amazement.

Both Gray and Natsu recovered and pulled themselves out of the ground. "Oww… that really hurt."

"You guys playing Whack A Mole?" Happy asked.

It wasn't just Rex who wondered if something was feeling off about the construction site, now Macao and Wakaba had also begun to realise things weren't looking much like the previous Guild Hall at all.

"I hate to say it but… this looks far too big." Macao eventually spoke up.

"Well the Master and I went over the plans so we decided to expand the place. I've got the plans right here." Mirajane announced and held up the plans, which were draw in crayon with a lack of perspective – and for some reason there were lots of scribbles including one of her.

"I liked it just the way it is!" Natsu protested.

Rex had walked over towards the plans that Mirajane and inspected them for several moments before saying, "I think some more indicators of what is where might be helpful. Where's the entrance to the Guild?" He asked.

Gray managed to get a slight view of the plans by squeezing in between Natsu and Rex. "These are worst plans ever, what idiot came up with these plans?" He said without any tact.

The smile on Mirajane's face broke into a cry and Gray then started panicking and tried to calm her down only to be smacked into the ground by Rex. "How many points do I get for Gray?" he asked Happy with a scowl on his face, the other three members looking on in disapproval.

"Um… not s-sure." Happy replied nervously.

Although the others didn't approve of what was going on there was one hidden wizard who did and here eyes glinted with glee as Juvia saw that her beloved was being so cruel to other women. With that, she quickly moved away to get something she had in mind for Gray.

A few hours passed by and the work done today made Natsu and Gray tired, with the latter sitting down on some wooden beams without a shirt on. "Man I feel so tired, my arms are stiff."

"Yeah." Natsu groaned.

A sudden burst of water hit both Natsu and Happy, skimming Gray as there was a pink box on his lap. "What's this, a lunchbox?" Gray asked and then opened it and let out a gasp. Inside was an assortment of vegetables on top of rice with some meat squirming around the sections underneath and someone had made Gray's face out of vegetables.

"Is that your face?" Natsu realised with a hungry look in his eye. "It looks so good."

"I'll bet it's really edible!" Happy noted, drooling.

"I don't want to eat that it's too creepy! What's that leaking out of the side?" Gray complained much to Juvia's dismay and she began chewing on a piece of cloth and crying over how long it took to make that. Natsu took out a tentacle and began chewing on it.

" **Who said you could take a lunch break?** " Erza demanded and immediately stopped when she saw what was in the lunchbox. "Is that your face?" She asked and plunged a fork directly into vegetable Gray's face and he let out an anguished cry. Gray wasn't the only one upset by this as Juvia was silently crying, though unlike previous times there were no accompanying rainclouds.

"So how does it taste?" Rex asked, the commotion bringing him over.

"It's actually cooked very well. My compliments go to whoever the chef was." Erza replied.

Hearing this Rex plunged a second fork that came with the lunhbox into the vegetables and tak some bites out of it. Whoever cooked this lunch definitely did a good job of it, though he would avoid the other sections as he suspected there was something off about what was in there and nodding in agreement.

"Let me try it then." Gray said and Rex handed his fork he was using. Chewing on some of himself he then said, "Yeah this is actually pretty good."

Despite the other wizards having taken a bite out of the lunch hearing Gray's compliment made her blush and immediately she had a fantasy about Gray wanting to marry him over how good her cooking was and she nearly loud out a large squeal but kept it in and hid back behind the wall.

Hearing a slight sound escaping Juvia's mouth Natsu looked up at the wall in confusion. "Something wrong?" Erza asked.

"I though I heard someone in the wall." Natsu noted.

Rex put his hand to his face in amazement. "Walls cannot talk Natsu. How can you even think that?"

"That's Natsu for yah." Happy stated.

A slight cough caught their attention, and everyone turned to see that it was Loke who was holding up a small hand sized brown wallet with a bunch of keys in his hands – everyone recognising them as her Celestial Keys. There was also something off about Loke as there were bags underneath his eyes. "I found these when I was in town and figured I should give them to Lucy." Loke spoke up.

"Oh there you are Loke, we were wondering where you went off to." Gray said.

"You've been looking for them this whole time?" Natsu asked.

That feeling Rex had when they switched bodies returned and wondered why it felt familiar, whether it was something to do with his powers or Loke's body was unclear. What Rex was certain about was that there was more Loke than met the eye.

"Are you okay? You're looking paler than usual." Happy noted.

"Yeah I'm just worn out." Loke lied and then looked down at the ground. "Being a gentleman can be pretty draining, though I was hoping to return these to Lucy."

"I was going to ask about Lucy, we haven't seen her since she went back to home about a week ago." Rex noted and thought about it for a minute. "She's probably staying in her house and healing up from Gajeel's injuries – checking up on her is a good idea. You wanna come with us Loke to deliver the keys?"

Hearing the name of the other dragon slayer made Natsu scowl and spit in disgust but their attention was focused on Loke who shook his head. "No thanks, but if you get a chance to see her could you tell her?" He asked.

"Of course, but why don't you want to do it in person?" Erza asked.

For a long time, Loke didn't give an answer but shook his head. "I'm just not good with Celestial wizards." He muttered and walked away.

"Aaagh… why does he have to be a party pooper?" Natsu scowled.

"Natsu, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, let's leave Loke be for now." Erza calmly said and put a hand on his shoulder. Gray and Rex weren't as easily convinced but decided to follow her words as Loke walked away.

"LUCY!" They all cried out with Natsu and Happy invading through the window.

"Geez, don't go through the window." Gray scowled, having somehow crawled under the desk.

Initially Rex wanted to wait outside her door after quietly knocking but seeing that nobody else was listening to him he had little choice but to go and break in along with them. "If Lucy catches you then I won't stop her." He warned as he also climbed in through the window.

"Hasn't anyone taught you not to go in at your leisure?" Erza asked hypocritically, having already walked in and helped herself to a cup of tea.

"Like you're one to talk." The three of them replied.

A thorough examination of both floors however proved that Lucy couldn't be found in any of the room, though nobody checked her bath out of respect for privacy. They met back up in the living room where Erza was beginning to get concerned about her. "It's strange, normally she would be in here and would have noticed us breaking into her house by now."

"Why do you talk so casually about that sort of thing?" Rex groaned in dismay.

"Yeah wouldn't she be all like… GET OUT OF HERE!" Happy agreed and then imitated Lucy shouting to all of them.

"Maybe she's in the back and will go GRAY YOU PERVERT!" Gray tried imitating Lucy and then sighed as he walked towards the bathroom. "I know I'm asking for it but…" Opening the entrance to the bathroom revealed that it was Natsu who was in the bath and shook his hand to say no. "HOW DID YOU GET THERE BEFORE ME?!"

Looking around the desk Rex saw that there was an unopened letter and picked it up, turning it over to see what was on it. Surprisingly, it wasn't addressed to Lucy but rather it looked like the address was written by Lucy and a crashing sound made him stop to look at what was going on. Happy was looking through the drawers and buried himself in a pile of letters.

"So many letters…" Erza noted.

"But if these were written by Lucy why didn't she send them?" Rex asked.

"Dear Mom…" Natsu began, having opened a letter without thinking as usual.

Gray evidently didn't like that and began protesting, "Don't read her letters!"

"Today was the day that joined Fairy Tail, where I got to meet all sorts of wizards. One of them was Erza, a beautiful wizard who's actually really cool! She always yelling at Natsu and Gray." Reading out the last bit made her blush slightly at the way Lucy had described her.

"So many letters, why did she not send them all to her mom?" Gray asked, picking up another letter, though not opening it this time.

"Guys, I found this note." Rex spoke up in a quiet tone and he turned to show everyone the note. Upon reading what was written down – 'I will go home.' – the others began freaking out about and then immediately began rushing off to find Lucy.

On a train towards the closet town to the Heartfilia Konzern Lucy was looking out of the window and thinking about her father. Before she made the decision to go home she wondered whether or not he really would do something like hire Phantom Lord and came to the conclusion that Jude in fact would. After all, the memories that Lucy remembered of her father weren't pleasant and one of them that she remembered on the train was when she made a riceball for her working father, only for him to smack it onto the floor and send her out. Not helping things was that it was on her birthday as well.

" _You hear me? NO MORE INTERRUPTIONS!"_

That last shout had sent her feeling from the room where Jude worked as Lucy stood over the entrance gardens and mansion. It was still as clean and nicely cut as always and walking through the grounds towards the main entrance she spotted a short maid sweeping the path with a broom and dancing as she did so. "Miss Spetto!" Lucy called out.

Turning around Spetto was shocked to see that the young girl who had run away a year had come back and then began crying tears of joy as she shouted, "Lucy's back!"

This grabbed the attention of many other nearby servants in the Heartfilia Konzern who then began crowding her and cheering at her return. Unlike her dad, Lucy made plenty of friends with the other servants who in some respects were a surrogate family much like Fairy Tail is – the servants included the librarian, the chef and her tutor.

"God I am sorry for making you all worry!" Lucy grinned, happy to see that they hadn't forgotten her. Even better was that they hadn't changed much if at all since she left.

From inside the mansion Jude Heartfilia stood and watched the scenario unfold with a look of slight surprise on his face. Having been told that the guild he hired had failed their mission and was disbanded as a result was not good news for him but seeing that his daughter had return was a surprise.

Whilst Lucy was talking to all of her friends in the mansion the doors opened, and a younger maid walked out. "Excuse me Miss Lucy, but the master wishes to see you in his study."

 _I finally come home and this is how he greets me? By sending a servant to request my presence? I see he hasn't_ Lucy sighed, though this thought wasn't framed as an insult to the maid and was more out of annoyance at him. Once inside they began working on her to make her presentable and they were now dressing in that way that Virgo could actually call her princess.

Taking a moment to examine herself in the mirror it was amazing to see that she still fit the dress despite growing a little since she last wore it – once she was finished with it she told the maids, "Well uh… I should probably get going."

"Yes ma'am." They responded at the same time, not a voice out of place.

Looking out of the window, Jude didn't look back until he heard the voice of his daughter. "Father? It's Lucy, may I come in?"

"Yes, you may." Turning around Jude didn't look happy. "Running away without saying a word to me, how could you?" He asked in a stern cold tone.

Returning his look in a calm and composed one that she hadn't used in the guild hall Lucy replied, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left without speaking to you. It was a poor decision on may part and one that I deeply regret."

"I'm glad that you've finally come to your senses and left that guild. A lady of your status shouldn't be affiliated with those ruffians." Jude praised, though Lucy suspected that it wasn't completely true.

What he said next though was something that confirmed her guess and that she took offense to inwardly. "It's a relief to know that I won't have to waste any more money eradicating the Guild. You forced me to go to extremes Lucy, if you hadn't acted so selfishly I wouldn't have had to lash out at the guild and brought that much trouble upon your friends. It's better if you don't associate with them anyway, you're better off with the Heartfilia family and not those commoners and peasants. You come from a completely different world."

"Which bring us to the reason that I called you back here. I have arranged for you to marry Duke Sawar of the Junelle family – do you remember his last visit Lucy?" Jude asked.

Sawar Junelle was a round plump man a couple of years older than Lucy who had talked to her a lot on their last visit – although by that time Lucy had made up her mind to leave and start travelling on her own.

"Yes I do, and I figured that might be the case."

Turning back to look out of the window Jude continued speaking, "Think of this as an investment in your future Lucy. Once you have married the Duke our joint family will share their rich lands of southern Fiore, allowing us to expand our rail service and bring in millions."

Lucy was starting to lose her patience with her father and began to think that it would have been better if she stayed in Fiore – but this had to done sooner rather than later. "I see."

"Once you have married I expect a baby boy to be the heir to the Heartfilia Konzern. That is all for now, you may return to your room." Jude concluded.

Taking a deep breath Lucy began speaking in her usual confident voice. "I'm sorry father but I'm not going back." She began, and Jude turned around in shock. "I didn't come here to make amends, I came here to say my final goodbyes. Leaving without saying goodbye was a mistake but even if I told you I doubt that you would have listened anyway. So I've come back to tell you exactly how I feel before I leave for good!"

"Lucy…" Jude began, amazed at what was going on.

"All the money in the world can't buy you happiness! That's what I learned as a child because now I'm finally happy where I truly belong!" With that she pointed at Jude using the hand stamped with the Fairy Tail mark. "I'm warning you! Don't mess with Fairy Tail ever again!"

"…" Jude was stunned silent.

Clenching the top of the dress, Lucy ripped it and then stated, "If you threaten us, we will crush you like any other enemy! We could have sat down and talked about this but now I can't trust you because you've heart too many of my friends."

Turning away she sighed and then said in a softer tone, "I never wanted lots of money money, fancy dresses or a house to be happy. I wanted to be accepted for who I am. From now on I'm not Lucky Lucy Heartfilia but simply Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail." She declared and started walking away, showing off her emblem. From outside the study the servants she had made friends with were eavesdropping and subsequently crying their eyes.

"Leaving this place is a very tough decision – I have so many fond memories of living here with mom, Miss Spetto and all of the other residents of the mansion that leaving for good would no doubt breaks their hearts."

When she reached the door Lucy stopped and then faced her father with a smile but her eyebrows arched up with some regret. "I know that if mom were still alive then that's what she would want me to do. She told me to be true to myself and that I would do what makes me happy."

Having spoken everything that she wanted to Lucy left the study and after changing back into her previous clothes walked out of the mansion and over to the grave of her mother, Layla Heartfilia. Knowing that this was probably going to be the last time they were going to see each other Lucy didn't cry but instead smiled peacefully.

"LUCY!" That peacefulness was suddenly broken when the call of five voices made her jolt in surprise and she turned back in shock to see that the rest of her team had followed all the way to the Konzern. Happy had tears in his eyes as they ran towards her.

"Why are you guys here?" Lucy cried out, dumbstruck.

"Well we went to check up on you and then they all broke into your house-" Rex began explaining.

Natsu and Gray immediately rounded upon him. "You were in there too!" They shouted at the same time.

Happy meanwhile flew right into Luc and hugged her tightly. "We saw the n-note and thought you had gone for good!" He bawled out, still sobbing.

Chuckling nervously Lucy then replied, "Sorry, I should have given the note to you at the construction of the guild."

Remembering something Rex then clapped his hands together and fiddled around in his pocket. "Speaking of giving stuff, we ran into Loke and he delivered this!" He added and pulled out a familiar brown pocket.

"My keys!" Lucy cried out. "Wait, Loke found them?"

"Yeah, though he didn't want to deliver them personally for whatever reason." Rex frowned, still uncertain about him.

Everyone else had taken to admiring the view with Erza looking back on how far they had gone into the area and simply taking it without a word, and the fire and ice wizards were looking around them at the gardens and mansion. "This is an impressive place Lucy."

"You can say that again, the mansion is gigantic!" Gray agreed.

"Do you think that you could fit a town in here?" Natsu asked curiously.

"I think this is a town Natsu." Happy

"Nevermind those questions, a better one would be what on earth did you do Lucy?" Rex asked.

Knowing that she owed them an explanation and an apology for suddenly leaving them without any warning Lucy then told the whole group about her conversation with her father and how she told him to not harm Fairy Tail any more. The group then grinned in satisfaction with Happy now gushing tears of joy at the fact that Lucy wasn't leaving Fairy Tail at all, but simply reaffirming that she was staying with them.

Turning around, Rex looked back at the mansion in thoughtfulness – despite being from a much wealthier background compared to the rest of them she wanted to be around family and friends outside of the maids and servants. _She's right to tell her father to back off…_ Rex thought with a scowl on his face.

"Earthland to Rex!" Lucy called out and he snapped back.

"Pardon?" Rex asked, not getting what she was going on about.

"I'm sorry for causing you guys to panic like that." Lucy apologised again.

"Well it's also our fault as we kind of did jump to conclusions." Erza admitted.

"Well now that that's over and done with I gotta say I'm digging this town Lucy." Gray spoke up with his hands in his pockets, something that the rest of the team agreed with.

Shaking her head Lucy then pointed out, "Oh this isn't a town, this is simply the gardens? See that mountain in the distance, that's where the estate extends to." Indicating the mountain in the background that they all looked at.

All of them stopped to take in what Lucy had just said and a look of shock crossed their faces. "Holy crap Lucy's loaded with money!" Gray spat out in faux horror.

"But she treats it like it's nothing!" Natsu agreed and they suddenly began dancing like they were friends.

Flying over to the other two Happy then rolled off, "Two of our best soldiers are down! Captain Erza and Private Rex, what are your orders?"

Unfortunately for him the two of them weren't responding to the blue cat, with Rex losing his colour and comically fainting on the spot with a white ghost of him coming out and stuttering gibberish. Erza was equally awestruck by the view and just stared of into the orange sky and said, "The sky is so beautiful…"

"We need a medic, Erza has a screw loose and Rex needs urgent attention!" Happy cried out.

"OOPAH!" Natsu and Gray shouted.

Initially dumbfounded by their reaction, Lucy couldn't help but laugh at them and once they had gotten over the shock of how large her estate was they began heading back to Magnolia Town with some tears forming in her eyes about leaving this place for good. Despite the tough decision these were tears of joy as she knew that her mother would have approved of this and she increased her pace to catch up with them.

 **Next Time – Harmony of a Trainer**

* * *

 **So this chapter is one that I finally manage to get done as well, and I wish that it rained soon at the time of writing because the heat is not helping very much. I was hoping for end of June but start of July it is.**


	15. Harmony of a Trainer

**Recap:** After deciding to get serious when fighting Jose, the combined efforts of both Rex and Mega Sceptile were enough to overwhelm and defeat the Wizard Saint though the effort caused him to faint and ending the conflict. A day later the Magic Council began their investigation and summoned both Rex and Makarov to testify before their thought projections. When returning the focus turned to rebuilding the guild, and the team caught up with Lucy after misinterpreting a note and she explained that she left to settle things with her father.

* * *

 **Chapter 15 – Harmony of a Trainer**

 **Hall of Origin**

Hidden within Spear Pillar was a place called the Hall of Origin, completely unknown to the humans that lived in the pokémon world. It was a place that only the legendaries could see and access – though it was possibly for a normal human to find it the chances of that happening were astronomically small as set conditions were created to prevent them from accessing it. Normally a quiet place where Arceus resided, there was a mass of activity this day as more than 30 legendary pokémon gathered for a meeting.

Before the meeting started Dialga and Palkia had a brief quiet discussion with Arceus. "So how has Rex been doing?" Palkia asked.

"So far he has managed to find two of the Plates, meaning that he can use the moves of eight types in total."

Dialga growled in frustration and swished his tail. "Not even half of the types, what's taking so long Rex Vermend?"

The air in front of them shimmered into a pink disc that replayed recent events. "Well it would seem that Rex is getting caught up in the adventures of this Fairy Tail guild."

Dialga was unimpressed by this and argued, "So what? Let it sort out itself and focus on the Plates, there is much more at stake than some guild being wiped out!" This comment made Palkia stare at him in surprise and Dialga took a moment to realise what he had just said and then huffed in annoyance. "That isn't what I meant."

 _Let him continue with his adventures in the guild, it wasn't something that he was going to avoid even if he tried. Rex Vermend would likely help them even if I forced him to do otherwise._ Arceus interrupted them and they snapped their heads to face him. The Alpha pokémon was still looking pale and had come out of his rest to address them and brace himself for blacklash.

"Oh right, I forgot about the Link you share." Dialga noted.

 _How many legendaries have shown up for this meeting?_ Arceus queried.

"Well so far I count about a dozen legendaries already here with an attendance of around forty. There are some that are lying dormant or too far away to make it in time – and as for others they haven't responded or their whereabouts are completely unknown." Palkia reported as the pearls on his shoulder glowed faintly to take a look at the area around Spear Pillar.

Pausing to consider it Arceus then decided _Once they are all settled in we shall proceed with the meeting._

Several minutes later the latest arrivals had settled into their sanctions in the meeting room, which was grouped by region and it looked uneven in the way the legendaries were distributed. Each legendary had their own stand, though if they were part of a group they shared the same level with the other members and the largest pokémon standing at the back. Arceus was at the centre on the floor of the meeting room and the others were looking on in confusing and interest as they saw the other two dragons down there.

Once everyone had settled down with Palkia and Dialga still standing by to assist Arceus the deer like god got everyone's attention and then started speaking. _The purpose of this meeting was to inform you all of a decision that I along with Dialga, Palkia, and the Lake trio that was made not too long ago._

 _I must regret to admit that I had been lying about the state of my health for a while now, at first it had been small enough for me to ignore and simply carry on with my work – though it began building up to the point that to rest to keep up my strength. So I had Dialga and Palkia work on a possible solution._

"You were sick, and you didn't come to ask for my help brother?" A short, pink feline pokémon blurted out in surprise.

"How do you get sick?" Another legendary asked. This one was a primarily red bird with a white underside and green feathers at the tips of his wings. Atop his head was a yellow feathered crest and black rings around his red eyes.

 _Though that was considered Mew this is not the normal kind of illness that can simply be restored with medicine – this is different. As for getting sick Ho-oh, I'm a pokémon just like any other even if I am the One._ Arceus explained, though he smiled in what could be considered a smile for him.

"So what is this solution you've found then?" Ho-Oh asked out of interest.

… _I decided to entrust a human with the power of my Plates and sent him to another world. More specifically the human in question in named Rex Vermend._ Arceus finally answered that question after a long pause. He nearly didn't answer that question out of concern for the others reaction, but understood that it had to be done soon.

It took a moment for this revelation to sink and once it did there was an outcry from everyone with all sorts of different reactions aside from the Lake trio. This was pretty much what Arceus had expected, though hearing 35 different voices at the same time was making his head throb slightly. _SETTLE DOWN!_

Several of the legendaries jumped at the volume and shook the platform they were standing on as the noise died almost instantly. _If you wish to voice your opinions, then please do so one at a time._

Using his power to get their attention a sleek purple cat like pokémon that could be mistaken for a relative to Mew spoke up in an icy voice filled with venom, "Why would you trust you power with the humans? They are selfish and have caused nothing but trouble. How many crises have arisen as a result of their actions?"

"As much as I hate to admit it they have caused more than their fair share of destruction and chaos. Why is that a good idea to trust it to this Rex Vermend?" A figure from the Unova group spoke up. This pokémon was a blue quadruped with piercing yellow eyes and horns and white tuft of fur on his neck.

 _The process of finding a human that was worthy wasn't easy, but we finally managed to come across a person who was suitable enough._

"Wouldn't that normally burn them up on the spot and wipe all the memories of said human?" Mew asked in shock at how Arceus managed to pull it off. This revelation spooked some of the other legendaries in attendance and they faced their father with a cautious

"The human body can manage to hold five of Arceus' Plates at first, though as he gets adjusted to them the body will be able to handle all 18 eventually." Palkia explained.

From the Hoenn section, a long green snake like pokémon with yellow lines running down his body was pondering the name of the human. Rayquaza recognised it but couldn't quite remember it. "Why is that name so familiar?" he mused to himself.

Next to him there a pair of small bird like dragons, sort of, with wings coming out of their body and the only different being their colour schemes being inversions of each other. One was mostly blue with a red triangle and the other was mostly red with a blue triangle. "I remember that name! When I was being pursued by those strange humans calling themselves Team Aqua he defended me."

"Sister they weren't strange they were criminals." The blue bird like dragon pointed out.

"They weren't?" Latias asked in confusion.

Rayquaza perked up at the mention of Team Aqua and then he remembered something crucial about an event not too long ago. "Now I remember, he was the brown-haired boy that fought the apparent Dragonlore Keeper! Yes, I think that you made the right choice with him Arceus."

"So that's three traitors to pokémon kind." A dragon that appeared to be made out of ice with black yellow eyes stated. The way it spoke was hollow and rattled, a testament to how it was incomplete and desirable.

"We are not traitors Kyurem, you have only had contact with a few humans. On the other hand, I have come in contact with several humans over thousands of years, enough to see that despite their flaws they are capable of doing plenty of good things as well." Rayquaza pointed out, slightly offended by the insinuation.

Kyurem looked at Rayquaza in disagreement. "But they always fall to the same mistakes over and over – as Mewtwo stated there have been multiple issues with modern humans over the past decade alone."

A mechanical purple pokemon turned to face Rayquaza, head whirring as it did so. "I must also agree with Kyurem – the group that Ghetsis was apart of did this to me, it's fun being friends with Mewtwo." Genesect added and Mewtwo was slightly annoyed at being called his friend.

Another pokémon chose to argue this statement and was standing next to the blue quadruped, a brown quadruped with two sharp horns that pointed forwards and a beige face with similar coloured bands around his legs. "At the same time though hasn't it always been those same humans who've rallied together to stop the threats?"

Kyurem stopped to consider it for a moment before hissing, "It's not just that one bastard but also the fact that I was once complete, and they ruined it. Now I can only be ever half power at most and it was taken by a pair of humans. You've made a terrible decision." Ice swirled around him in response to his anger.

"Agreed, there is no such thing as a good human." Genesect nodded vehemently and Mewtwo snorted in response.

"Regardless of your opinions on the matter, since we had limited options it was decided that giving it up to a human was the best possible option, especially given that humanity has evolved since his last visit to the world." Palkia explained further with Dialga sweating profusely as he tried to repress an awkward memory.

"But why send him to another world, wouldn't his powers stand out?" Ho-Oh inquired, though after asking that question another thought sprung in his mind.

 _The world was chosen specifically so that Rex could fit in with his powers. Unfortunately, this means that I can't do much in terms of altering reality, only attempt to try and keep things together._

Looking back at the delicate form of their father, there was some concern from Ho-Oh though he didn't show it on his face. "Well what is surprising is that you're not disagreeing with this Giratina, I would have thought you'd have been upset like Kyurem was."

A gray six legged pokémon with inky black wings that features red spikes and a long tail was standing opposite Ho-Oh. A thick black stripe ran down the middle with red horizontal stripes dividing it up and the head featured a golden crown like object with spikes coming out of the side. "Just what are you implying phoenix breath?"

"Well you do have a grudge against Arceus and all that, so I was thinking about a snake like you…"

Giratina's eyes flashed dangerously red. "Insinuate that I enjoy this or am in any way responsible and I won't hesitate to tear you into pieces." She warned in a hissing tone. "Besides, if Arceus were to die then it would throw everything off balance – and that isn't good for me."

 _Enough._ Arceus warned and they jerked back to face him. Weakened as he was the Alpha Pokémon was still strong enough to beat them badly. _Ho-Oh, please do not antagonise Giratina._

There was a snort of derision from the phoenix but he dipped his head in submission and quietened down, still sending a distrustful glare towards the serpent of the Distortion World who returned it with red hate filled eyes.

"So what do we do now?" Mewtwo asked, still not happy with the decision and glared at Arceus.

 _For now you can do nothing but hope for Rex Vermend - regardless of how you feel about humanity in general and continued with your own roles. That will be all._ Arceus concluded and one by one the legendaries began filing out, those that could through teleportation and Giratina opened up a portal to her dimension.

Once everyone but the Lake trio had disappeared they flew down closer to the three pokémon. "So has there been any update on the missing legendaries?" Azelf asked.

 _No word from the Tapu. Though their absence is not unusual the lack of response is something of concern. I'll try again but if I get no response I'll have to send one of you to investigate Alola. As for Zygarde the have told me they will pass this meeting up as well._

"Considering that the meeting was an urgent one it was still amazing that some chose not to attend, not even when it concerns Arceus." Dialga growled in annoyance.

"As the pokémon who rules over time you of all pokémon should know how badly things have changed for us." Uxie noted in an upset tone and looked down at the floor in spite of not opening them. Dialga fell into an awkward silence and looked away, the long history of the legendary pokémon had been turbulent to put it lightly

"But it's not just the Tapu that you're worried about though is it." Palkia guessed, steering the topic to avoid any more unpleasantness.

Arceus nodded and winced as he felt a stabbing pain through his body, it would slowly creep up on him and then almost shock him suddenly and go just as quickly as it had come. _There are still some legendaries that we need to try and get. For now our immediate concern is getting in touch with the Tapu – I'll try to call out to Tapu Koko as he's the most involved with humans._

"If that fails what will you do?" Palkia asked.

 _I'll send Azelf there to try and make contact with the guardian._ Arceus firmly responded and the small blue spirit of Lake Valour nodded in understanding. Shortly after that the three lake spirits then disappeared before Dialga and Palkia followed suit as they warped away into a blue and pink orb respectively – they had to keep space and time from falling apart.

Once the pair of them were gone all of the separate stands faded away and then Arceus surrounded himself in a golden orb to retreat to his own realm and at the very least slow down the illness affecting him. _No matter how much we wish for it Uxie we cannot return to the times of eons ago, back when humanity didn't take advantage of pokémon as often or without severe consequences. Though at the same time, there are some parts of going back that we should reminisce on._ Arceus mused.

* * *

 **Magnolia Town – Fairy Tail Construction Site**

Slamming her hands down on the bar Mirajane caught everyone's attention and she spoke up, "Listen up everyone! We're now accepting job requests again starting today, though you'll have excuse the construction you can now go back to work!" It was the first good bit of news that everyone had heard in about a week and the crowd cheered as they began looking over for any good jobs.

"It's kind of amazing to see how much people enjoy the request board. Normally they'd loaf around." Lucy observed with a slight look of disbelief on her face as she sat at the counter.

On her left Rex was sitting down with a mug of coffee in his hands – this was the third cup today after drinking none since the conflict had ended and he stopped shuffling to take a gulp. "That's not really surprising Lucy, staying here and doing practically nothing has made them antsy get out of Magnolia." Rex pointed out.

Mirajane nodded in agreement. "More or less."

Lucy slowly nodded and then brought out the brown pocket containing her Spirit Keys. "I don't suppose that either of you have seen Loke around? I wanna thank him for finding them."

"No, I haven't seen him around recently." Mirajane replied, frowning.

"Nor have I since before we left to find you." Rex added.

Looking at the mug in Rex's hand Lucy asked in disbelief, "How many have you had today? I could have sworn an hour ago that you were still drinking them." Rex didn't answer with his mouth but turned away defensively.

"Speaking of your spirits, were they mad at you for losing your keys?" Mirajane asked. Something about the way she said made Rex choke and near spit out his coffee but he swallowed it before that happened.

"…Well only one of them was really upset about it." Lucy winced at the memory, for they could guess that it was Aquarius who was most likely angry at her losing the keys. Gently resting a hand on her now bruising butt Lucy let out a whimper and groaned, "Just thinking about it makes it throb."

"I could cool it down if you want me to." Gray offered with an icy mist forming around one hand.

"That sounds like sexual harassment." Lucy turned it down without even looking at him.

Happy was smirking in the wasy that suggested he was up to something. "Lucy can you show me?" He teased.

"WITH THAT COMMENT YOU'VE CROSSED THE LINE!" Lucy shouted, Rex sweating at the anger in her eyes.

Natsu had the opposite idea and instead fire surrounded his fist. "Ya think if I put my flames to her butt it'll sting even more?" He asked and Happy nodded in agreement.

 _Isn't that going too far?_ Rex thought in astonishment, and Lucy was shouting in agreement.

A barrel came flying their way and smashed both Natsu and Gray. "That's enough!" Erza shouted.

Opening his mouth to respond to what seemed like an overreaction everyone near the counter then saw that she was actually talking to Laxus who was sitting down on a bench with an infuriating smirk on his face. Remembering the last time Rex had seen the loud-mouthed wizard he stood up and tensed his muscles – this was anything but good if he showed up and Erza was glaring at him in a way that would normally intimidate everyone with the possible exception of Rex.

"I have no problem tell you what I think, this guild is nothing but full of weaklings and losers." Laxus spoke up in an arrogant tone and then turned to face Jet and Droy with a sinister smile on his face. "Especially you two, you were Phantom's personal punching bags, right? It's a good thing I never bothered learning your names." They both let out a slight noise.

Laxus then turned around so that half of his face was facing the person who he wanted to insult the most and then remembered the white-haired member of their guild. This would be absolutely perfect. "Which brings me to you two, the blondie is the worst of the bunch. Pretty little princess was the one to bring Phantom here after all."

"Laxus!" Mirajane defended with surprising sharpness in her voice. "Would you shut up? We all agreed to not blame anyone for what happened. Even though I begged you to help us-"

"SHUT UP!" Laxus interrupted as he widened his eyes and stood up. "That fight had nothing to do with me you wench! Besides if I had been there you babies wouldn't have struggled so much-"

Someone decided that enough was enough and a foot swivelled around high and knocked Laxus right off his feet and crashing into the table. Getting up the blonde S-Class wizard saw that Rex was standing over him and it took him a moment to comprehend what had just happened, and the rest of the Guild wondered what they were seeing.

"You…" Laxus began in surprise.

"Don't _ever_ say that again Laxus." Rex warned, voice dropping almost to a low growl.

A flash of lightning and Laxus was instantly behind him and then let loose a burst of lightning at his behind and a blitz of speed indicated that Rex had moved and then arrived behind Laxus, now in his Earth Plate forme. "Too slow!" Laxus shouted as another blast of lightning magic arced towards him.

"Get out of the way!" Gray shouted urgently.

Electing to do the opposite however, Rex simply stood there and let the lightning magic come to him and was lit up by a flash of yellow energy that surrounded him and tried to shock him but to everyone's amazement nothing happened. No scratches or damage, there was little or no effect at all on the trainer.

"What was that supposed to be?" Rex asked in a tone that was almost unimpressed.

After getting over the shock of someone below him actually standing up to his lightning his eyes narrowed and then Laxus backhanded Rex followed up by several punches to the gut and then he was now sprawling on the floor. As Rex started getting up Laxus reached out and then put him in a head lock, a wicked smile on his face as then crowed, "Don't even think about it you shapeshifting wannabe! Your victory against Jose was nothing but luck!"

"Let him go Laxus!" Mirajane raised her voice and moved out from the counter.

"Or what? We all know you can't do anything, with how weak you are you can't even touch me!" Laxus bragged and then let out a laugh.

"But I can." Magmortar quietly spoke and nailed Laxus with a Fire Blast from behind and forced him to release Rex from the sudden impact.

"So this is where the guild is sinking, by hiring monsters and abominations to fight alongside the rest of you weaklings?!" Laxus demanded. Seeing that it was a fire creature he angrily raised a fist that began sparkling with electricity and then fired a bolt towards it, knowing that there was no way for it to not do anything.

As it turned out Laxus couldn't be any more wrong as Magmortar simply snorted in amusement and then focused slightly. There had been several landmark achievements in these few moments, not least of which was that the lightning just stopped no less than two feet away from Magmortar. Not even spreading out to try and strike from several sides worked.

"How can you do that?" Laxus demanded in shock and then almost realised that he had let go of Rex.

It was too late for him as it was the third time that someone had managed to land a hit on him today as a bone struck him in the chest then arced back and struck him at the back of the head, making the right headphone crack. "Don't you know how much they're worth?" Laxus growled as his magical energy surged around him.

"A lot more than you I'll bet." Rex fired back and Magmortar laughed at this.

"He's really done it now!" Laki gasped in fear and shrunk back along with most of the Guild.

"That's enough! Stop fighting at once!" Makarov bellowed, going into his giant form and placing his hands in between the two of them.

Despite getting increasingly pissed off Laxus made no attempt to actually defy his grandfather as the flash of magic slowly died down they were still staring at each other, only slightly less volatile than earlier eventually chose to not continue the fight and his scowl went right back to a smirk. "Yeah, it's pointless considering that I'm gonna be next in line for you chumps. When I do, _my_ Fairy Tail is going to be completely different!" He vowed and then vanished in a flash of light.

Everyone who had witnessed these events looked around in subdue, and some of them were rubbing their eyes wondering if it was a dream or not. "I still don't believe what just happened. Rex standing up to Laxus and actually hitting him?" Nab asked.

"Neither can I and I was starting to think that my old age was catching up." Macao answered, equally awed at what he had seen. Those who had chosen to work on the new hall were slowly returning to work though not without discussing the recent clash.

Once he had calmed down Rex slumped down to the nearest bench and clutched his neck, breathing deeply. "Thank you for helping me there, Magmortar. I don't know what would have happened if I was kept in that head lock." He managed to say.

"He's a pushover, I could totally take him on any day!" Natsu scoffed.

Turning towards him in amazement at such a stupid statement Gray and Happy protested, "There's no way that you could take him on! Remember the last time that happened?" Initially confused at this Rex asked for further clarification and Happy said that it was over before it really began with a single blast of magic knocking Natsu out.

"I'm a lot stronger now than I was back then!" Natsu argued.

"Does getting nearly beat up by Gajeel count as getting stronger?" Lucy asked.

Smiling at their arguing Rex chose to block it out for a moment to think back to Laxus's actions and the way he had insulted the guild and called everyone weak. It was a lot like how Gajeel acted, looking down on everyone for no particular reason and beating up anyone who dared contest that. As far as a serious fight was concerned the next time Laxus did anything Rex would not take it and beat the arrogance out of him.

"Although what you did was brave, making an enemy out of Laxus was a dangerous thing to do." Erza noted.

"What were you and Natsu going to do about it then?" Rex huffed in his defense, having seen Erza practically shaking in anger and Natsu's eyes narrowing before he had intervened owing to his insulting remark at Mirajane.

"…I guess you're right." Erza finally admitted after considering it.

Walking over to the group, Mirajane remained quiet as she was taken by surprise at how Rex in particular had only reacted once Laxus had insulted her. All of the ways he had helped not only the guild but also their little talk about Lisanna and the best way to move forwards from it – even if it didn't work during Phantom's attack.

"It doesn't matter whether or not Laxus is part of the Guild, he crossed the line when he called Mirajane a wench." Rex further justified and then looked away when he noticed Mirajane with an awkward smile on his face.

"You liiiike her." Happy remarked, holding his head in his paws.

"What did you say?" Rex scowled and glared fiercely at the blue cat. Mirajane found herself blushing at this remark

"How did your Magmortar block his attack? I can't even do that with my fire!" Natsu loudly protested and drew away the conversation from that particular subject.

Looking at Natsu suddenly Rex shook his head at what he could clearly see was the dragon slayer's faulty logic and then replied. "That's because it doesn't revolve around using fire to simply block the lightning Natsu. I'll explain as simply as I can – normally lightning strikes because of the electric charge at the base of the cloud making contact with the electric charge on the ground, usually with the path of least resistance."

"So how does Magmortar stop it?" Gray asked.

"By superheating the air around him without setting it on fire, Magmortar pushes the charge in the air outwards to form an invisible shield in the air that blocks the lightning in the air. Though most fire types can learn it with enough practice, the Magmar line in particular are most associated with this technique and it's not an actual move either." Rex further explained.

Natsu had some trouble understanding it and tilted his head in confusion. "So I have to use it but not use it… aaaghh that doesn't make any sense!" He complained and began pulling at his head.

Rex shook his head and let out a weak chuckle at his antics before getting back up and then saying, "That's the best I can explain it Natsu, it's not my fault that you haven't gotten it yet."

"Alright then I want a rematch!" An enraged Natsu then slammed his fists down.

"Not interested." Rex initially stated but saw a flaming fist coming his way and dodged it.

In response Rex immediately shifted into the Sky Plate and spread out his wings, practically inviting Natsu to try it and then the thought of flying around being carried by him made Natsu's cheeks puff up and he bent over on the floor, ready to hurl. "How can you get motion sick by thinking about it?" Rex asked in disbelief.

"That was a cheap shot…" Natsu complained.

"Attacking me after saying that I didn't want to fight isn't?" Rex asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement, with Gray and Happy trying not laugh at the salmon haired wizard.

Remembering something that he had said before leaving Lucy asked, "When Laxus said that in his Fairy Tail there would be no weaklings what did he mean by that?"

Mirajane sighed and replied in a softer tone, "Laxus is actually Makarov's grandson and that makes him the next in line for the title of Guild Master but his current attitude is rumoured to be why he doesn't retire yet."

"Seriously?!" Lucy and Rex blurted out at the same time as well.

Clearing her throat, everyone turned to look at Erza who had held up a sheet of paper in her hand. "Now that the request board is open again I've found a job that we can all go on together as a team."

"They finally acknowledge they're a team." Cana rolled her eyes at this in amusement.

"Took them long enough." Romeo added.

Realising that it was including him Rex then said, "All of us, including me?" wondering when they were officially a team. The reason he had joined them initially was that his talents would be useful and as a means to keep an eye on Natsu and Gray when she wasn't around – he didn't remember sneaking off to attempt an S-Class request.

"Yes, let's make it official." Erza suggested, with a smile on her face.

"So what's this job request then?" Rex asked, effectively agreeing to this proposal.

Now knowing that he was also going to join this request Erza sat down at the table and explained it to them – it was a simple request. A group of archaic wizards in a place known as fort term were causing enough trouble to warrant sending out a request, as there was no attempt to interact with the citizens of the local town it was assumed that they were members of either a dark guild or a cult.

The reward was pretty hefty, though there was a problem. "I don't think the request will quite cover a months' worth of rent for Lucy, but it will be close enough." Erza noted.

"I'll give up my portion so that you have two parts of the reward money Lucy. I still have the money from my first job." Rex then spoke up, remembering the three hundred thousand plus stack of money back in the Strauss household.

"What?" Natsu and Gray protested.

A quick glare from Erza shot both of them down and she then looked back at Rex with a smile returning to her face. "That's a generous thing to hear from you Rex." She stated, and Lucy perked up at the thought of getting enough money to pay her rent, though the remark didn't go unnoticed as Mirajane gave her a funny look and something almost seemed to spark between them again, like an old fire being reignited.

* * *

Several hours later they had arrived at the town where they met up with the mayor and asked for directions towards the Fort Term. It wasn't difficult to see it amongst most of the rock once they made it through a small wooded area and they gathered behind a rock that overlooked the fort in question – though it had once been used a long time ago the place had been abandoned until recently.

There was only one way to get in as the rest of the fort was surrounded by a ditch that looked to be taller than any of them even when they stretched with a single stone bridge leading towards Fort Term. The outside walls were also made of stone and has spikes lining around the top of the walls meaning that climbing was out of the question – though as three of them could fly, or five if you counted the pokémon, this was redundant.

It soon became evident that they were either stupid or way too arrogant for their own good, as the roof was coloured in a rather gaudy purple and plenty of windows in case of a quick escape at least if they were backed towards the wall. A quick distant flight by Happy showed that there was a courtyard where when the fighting started they would at least try to swarm anyone who rushed them.

"So did you see anyone?" Rex asked when he landed.

"No, do you think they're all asleep?" Happy replied.

"Doubt it, more like they're doing who knows what sort of old style magic." Erza guessed.

"It'll be ancient history once we charge in and kick their asses!" Natsu grinned and his fists lit up with fire. There was a similar smirk on Gray's face as an icy mist began swirling around his two hands.

"Not quite and put some clothes on Gray!" Erza demanded and Gray was too afraid to do anything about it. "We're gonna do this by attacking from two fronts – Natsu and Rex will fly over and start attacking from above, then I'm going to break down the wall and alongside Lucy and Gray the three of us will charge in from the front. Are we clear?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am." Everyone replied, though Natsu, Happy, and Gray were the only ones slightly fearful of the way she said it.

 _Seriously, how does he not notice himself taking off his shirt?_ Rex thought and turned away from the ice wizard in embarrassment.

After switching into the Sky Plate they took off and once they had flown to the opposite side and once they were at the back a ball of silver energy formed in between Rex's hand. "Let it rip Natsu! **Flash Cannon!** " He declared and fired it at the back.

" **Fire Dragon's ROAR!** " Natsu yelled and followed it up with a blast of fire that created an even larger hole from behind.

"That's the signal, **Requip!** " Erza called out as she was lit up and her armor changed into her Black Wing Armor. Leaping from their place overlooking the fort she dived down and used her Moon Flash spell in the centre of the front wall and left a gaping hole in it. Lucy and Gray then followed her, the former pulling out on of her keys and the latter trying to get his shirt on.

As the plan had worked, most of the people inside the fort was busy gathered in the largest room of the building presumably taking part in some sort of ritual as the wall suddenly exploded and collapsed to reveal two unknown wizards. "Sorry but this assembly is officially disbanded!" Rex declared as he threw a Poke Ball to reveal Magmortar who then unleashed a double Fire Blast at some of the members and instantly knocking them out.

"Punish the heretics!" Their leader, a short fat guy with even shorter hair that made Rex wonder if he was balding shuted out and then began muttering a spell that caused a barrier to form in between the two of groups and when Natsu tried to punch them with a flaming fist found himself unable to pass through.

"Why the heck is going on?" Natsu demanded and then puched the barrier again.

"It's a Jutsu Shiki or Enchantment as they are more commonly known. Anything written within the barrier is absolute." Happy explained and saw that the barrier had extended to their targets side and the leader let out a sigh of relief.

"Heh, good luck catching us now!" He gloated, spit flying from his face.

"So what does this barrier say?" Rex grunted in annoyance, casually punching one of the members who had tried sneaking up on him without looking back.

"Only magic spells cast by wizards inside the barrier will pass through it and non-members of Fort Term cannot pass through." He explained, bragging as this was some sort of achievement. Natsu opted to take it out on the rest of the members who weren't inside the barrier.

There was an urgent knocking on the door and it busted open to reveal a beaten up guard covered partially in ice. "More wizards from the front including the famous Titania, great leader!" He reported.

"WHAT?!" He shouted and then recognised the two wizards in front of them, mouth gaping open in shock. "So that makes the pink haired heathen Salamander and this one the famous multitype wizard!"

After thinking over the words of the enchantment several Rex grinned and then began speaking in an upbeat tone that was anything but good news for the criminals in Fort Term. "Speaking of which, your barrier is incomplete by the way. You can stay in there all you want but I have the means to push you out of there if necessary."

"Impossible, your bluffing!" Fort Term's leader began sweating at this, still feeling very hopeful that they couldn't be harmed.

"Magmortar use Heat Wave on them!" Rex called out and then got to dealing with the remaining two who were holding out a rather long dagger, one that had some sort of magical property to them and then switched into the Zap Plate.

Expanding both cannons there was a grin on Magmortar's face as a wave of fire spread out through the barrier – since it forbade magic spells the moves used by pokémon were freely allowed to pass through. Something that he had picked up on almost immediately was that whilst anything written was absolute it also had to specify if there was a discrepancy about certain details.

Blocking the dagger by grabbing the wrist Rex flipped the member over, shocking him with Zap Cannon along the way as he hit the ground fully paralysed as the fire washed over the members inside the barrier. There was a sharp electric shock coming from the dagger but

"Cool it with the fire!" Rex demanded of Natsu, taking a step backwards and nearly tripping. As there was no way of getting past the barrier physically Natsu had taken to thrashing anyone outside the barrier and spread out his fire erratically, so far nothing had hit Rex though some of the flames came dangerously close.

"I wanna beat up the rest of those guys but I can't!" Natsu protested angrily.

"But we could just go around it instead since they've fled." Happy pointed out in a deadpan tone.

"Oh yeah I never thought of that." Natsu realised.

After burying his face in his hands Rex then switched to the Fist Plate and then broke down the wall with Rock Smash, it took three uses of the move to break down the wall with the others following suit as they began to chase them down.

" **Ice-Make: Lance!** " Gray called out as half a dozen lances spread out across the courtyard and freezing several parts of the entrance to the fort but didn't break through it completely yet.

Taking out a key Lucy added, " **Open: Gate of the Maiden – Virgo!** " and a bell rang out through the courtyard as the pink haired spirit appeared in front of her, ready for combat. "Break down the door!"

"As you wish Princess." Virgo nodded and then used her Earth magic to throw up shards of rock that broke through the centre of the door and it cracked but was still not completely off it's hinges, only opening slightly due to being more than an inch thick. "It would appear the door is more resistant than anticipated."

"That's okay, you did good." Lucy reassured her.

Erza finished off the door by requipping her weapon into an axe and then swinging once at the doors, lifting them off of their hinges and breaking them apart into multiple pieces and also taking off some of the surrounding wall. The force from that one swing made the other two members wince.

"Don't you think that was a bit excessive?" Lucy complained.

"Spread out and search for their leader, take out anyone you come across." Erza commanded, ignoring the two of them.

Cracking his knuckles, a large grin spread across Gray's face. "The best kind of plan." He stated and then rushed in and immediately turned right, unaware that he had taken his shirt and jacket off. Knowing that they were going to go overboard anyway Lucy then ran into the fort alongside Virgo and then followed Gray and going to the left side of the building to assist.

Going into the opposite direction Erza took the right side of the building and almost immediately came across several armed members of this cult and then fired magic bursts out of spear like weapons. Now using a magic sword in her hand, she deflected the shots that came close to her, noting the type of weapons that were being used as she disarmed them with several swift strikes.

Picking it up she observed the design and noted the ankh symbol at the hilt of the spear and then pointed it towards the wall, aiming for a specific brick and then fire at it. The shot didn't hit the middle of the wall and instead was a few degrees off. _I knew it, this was a weapon used by the Council in its early days but was stiff and inaccurate._ Erza thought and then followed a shout that alerted her.

Lucy and Gray had also encountered several guards that also had the same weapons and were currently having more of a problem dealing with them as not only were they in an open room but they were taking shelter behind a table that was breaking apart.

"What kind of archaic wizards use modern tech?" Lucy complained and then let out a scream as a shot whizzed over her.

"Could you keep the noise down?" Gray complained and then tried to get a good look at the guards but couldn't due to the rate of fire – it wasn't constant but the group of 6 guards made it difficult to get a good look. Having no choice but to get out there Gray rolled to the side and created a shield made of ice and the ones that hit the shield chipped it.

" **Open: Gate of the Golden Bull – Tauros!** " Lucy chanted as she pulled out a different key and summoned the large cow that let out a battle cry as he flexed.

"What can I dooo-ooo for you?" Taurus asked, staring at her body.

"Stop looking at me and take them down!" Lucy shouted, pointing a finger at the guards.

"Absoluuutely!" Taurus yelled as he jumped and unsheathed his axe.

Seeing a large bull suddenly appear out of thin air made them all stop and stare at Taurus for a second but them realised what was going to happen to them and raised their weapons too late and they were flung into the walls/furniture of the room and were knocked out from the concussion. The one that was still conscious was feeling very dizzy and saw Lucy coming over and pin him down with a boot.

"Where is the head of this group?" Lucy demanded.

"Like I'd tell a broad that information." The guard spat back in defiance.

An axe then buried itself in the floor right next to the guard as Taurus stared right at him with a threatening look that made him go white from fear as the bull then said, "Doooo not insult my woooman again you understand?" Nodding shakily the guard got the message clear and simple.

"…H-he's most l-likely in the h-hall at the b-b-back of the g-g-grounf floor. O-o-or at h-his of-f-fice at the top floor."

"Natsu and Rex have gone through the back entrance so they've either captured him by now or are in the process of catching the leader. If anyone can find the leader its him." Gray guessed, having heard the faint sounds of fighting and fire from behind them.

"So we just have to beat all of them up?" Lucy asked.

"Yep, it looks like it." Gray grinned.

"PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" Lucy shouted as she just noticed that he was shirtless and Gray looked down in confusion.

"I wouldn't mind getting a gooood look at your body Miss Lucy." Taurus spoke up hopefully with hearts in his eyes. Lucy didn't respond with words but rather by forcing his gate to close and his disappeared in a golden light.

Going through the other side of the floor the group consisting of Natsu, Happy, Rex and Magmortar ended up not finding them which left the only way for them to continue the search was to go up as they found the only stairs on their side of the fort. "Once we go on to the next floor we'll split up to cover more ground, I'll go one way and you'll go the other." Rex added.

Running through the second floor unveiled nothing much aside from the occasional guards that tried to stop them, but they blasted through with ease and then met back up at the stairs as it kept going on for another level. Hopefully they would find something there.

Finally, there was something that they could work with, the top floor didn't have any other rooms but one long hallway that lead to a large open room where they saw the leader with two guards that stood beside him. "How did you make it here?!"

"I followed you scent, it's pretty easy." Natsu said in a casual tone.

"That and we went around the long way." Rex added.

"Stop them!"

The two guards then rushed towards the group with two swords ready out to attack and Rex was already there with a Sacred Sword in his hand and parried one of the blade before blocking the other and standing his ground. Thinking that he was too busy to avoid the other sword the first guard then went in for a second strike.

It was a terrible mistake as Rex moved backwards making him miss his swing and stumble forwards, instead getting a Brick Break for his troubles and fell backwards onto the floor. Focusing on the other guard, Rex pushed him back and then used Focus Blast and then he hastily swiped at it with his sword. The move exploded with the force knocking back the guard a few feet.

" **Discharge!** " Rex shouted and then waves of electricity spread out everywhere and blasted the two guards with electricity and their swords making it easier for the attack to direct itself to both of them.

As Rex had taken the two guards Magmortar and Natsu were on their leader within seconds who had chosen to run away from them both, though it wasn't long before they were catching up with him. Eyes glowing blue, Magmortar picked him up using Psychic and the three of them stopped to watch him run in the air until he stopped and opened his eyes.

Moving his arm backwards Magmortar flung the man back down past them where the electricity died down and he was now stuck in between the multitype wizard and Salamander and a fire monster.

"Can't run now, can ya!" Natsu grinned and then puffed his cheeks, quickly unleashing a Fire Dragon's Roar that spread out across the whole room.

"What did I say about your fire?!" Rex shouted and ducked as the wave of fire washed over his head.

"I ain't gonna go that easily!" The leader defied them and then pulled out a hand sized weapon with a lacrima embedded into it and then aimed it at the wizards sent to defeat and capture them. It was a gun with a curved barrel that stored the lacrima in it.

"That's a lacrima powered semi-automatic, be careful Natsu!" Happy advised.

Instead of being intimidated, Natsu merely scoffed at it and seconds later began avoiding the magic bullets that were much more accurate than the bursts of energy from the guard spears. Each lacrima powered bullet chipped away at the stone and Magmortar was forced to use Psychic to block or deflect the bullets – he may have been more resilient than the others, but they would still hurt.

" **Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!** " Natsu shouted and fired it the blad man who ducked behind his deck and it exploded on the wall. Getting increasingly annoyed at not being to get in close to beat him up the fire began erupting around Natsu as his anger increased.

"What… what's up with him?!" Came the startled look on his face and he paused to stare at the Salamander. Then realising that not firing wasn't a good thing continued to focus almost exclusively on Natsu, though the cloak of fire magic cushioned the bullets and then he launched forwards with his Fire Dragon's Sword Horn and crashed into the wall.

Picking him up Natsu then threw him across the room and began gathering flames in both hands and raised them above his head to form a fireball. "Take the flames of my right hand and the flames of my left hand and this is what you get! **Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!** "

When the fireball struck Fort Term's leader it exploded, and even more fire washed throughout the whole room and all of the pieces of furniture were set on fire in some form. Not helping matters was the heat circling around the room making the other two that weren't so used to fire sweating bullets. Another effect was that this part of the top floor with visible wooden beams that were now on fire and one of them broke off, falling down right next to Rex.

"Will you…" Rex began but then began coughing and turned away from the smoke and started to speak again in a shakier tone, "Will… you… Nat-su…" then felt his whole body shaking and sparking wildly.

Magmortar spotted this and felt his eyes widen dangerously. "We've accomplished our goal you can stop it with the fire Natsu!" He shouted at him.

Natsu was still punching the now unconscious members and then looked up in confusion. "It is? Oh yeah." He grinned sheepishly and then stopped at the glare the large flame pokémon was giving him and then turned to a very nervous Happy. "What's wrong you guys?"

Pointing towards Rex, the salmon haired wizard looked on and saw him just standing there and shaking from the surroundings. Though Natsu didn't have a clue what was going on, Magmortar instantly knew and Happy came to realise that it wasn't good. Muttering something under his breath, Rex just stood there and unconsciously returned to his normal form but was practically paralysed with fear.

"Come on man, don't just stand there we need to get to Lucy and the others." Natsu started as he walked next to Rex.

"DON'T!" Magmortar shouted suddenly and Rex jumped up, eyes shooting forwards.

By then it was too late as Natsu had laid a hand on the trainer – a big mistake as out of defense Rex suddenly swung and punched Natsu in the jaw, making him stumble and fall backwards. Initially taken back by what just happened instead of asking what was wrong Natsu was annoyed at being attacked like that.

"Hey man what's you deal?" He demanded.

"I don't think Rex is acting like himself, remember how Gray reacted to Deliora!" Happy cried out.

 _Only with his new powers it's worse._ Magmortar thought, frowning.

This made Natsu stop and then turn back to Rex with a frown on his face, thinking back to the look of shock that had crossed the stripper's face when he saw the giant hulking demon. Even though it had been a shell the mere sight of it made Gray act a lot angrier than he normally was, he even snapped at Lucy.

"I understand if you're not feeling cool right now but don't just stand there." Natsu then stated, deciding for once to take a gentle approach and approach him normally without using anymore of his magic.

Instead of trying to help Natsu out Magmortar began using Psychic to disperse the flames – that was the priority right now as that was what upset Rex in the first place. Though being a pokémon made of fire it was only really helping the flames more and the only pokémon capable was on Rex's belt.

The mistake Natsu had made was to assume that this was like Gray and that after a moment or two to get his head back together it would be perfectly fine. Instead of accepting the chance to cool down a Discharge attack struck Natsu from across several sides and the dragon slayer still stood his ground as he endured the attack.

"Damnit, guess it's the easy way then!" Natsu growled and then launched into an attack.

Catching the attack, Rex then smacked him into the ground before tcreating a dozen of himself with Double Team and then began to use Earthquake, making the entire fort shaking suddenly as cracks began appearing in the stone. Swaying from side to side, Magmortar had difficulty staying up and then fell on his back as the type matchups took over.

"Can't help right now! Do something!" Magmortar called out to Happy.

"What am I supposed to do?" Happy asked, freaking out.

From below them, the other two groups felt the whole building shaking violently and looked up from where the Earthquake was coming from. "That's the work of Rex. But what's going on up there?" Gray frowned.

In the other side of building Erza in her Heaven's Wheel Armor frowned, as she was the closest she could see the fire coming from the room and the shockwaves felt stronger the closer she got to the room. _What's Rex doing? This shouldn't have been a particularly challenging job but still…_ Erza thought with a deep sense of foreboding rising.

Once they were in view Erza had no choice but to lean on the wall for support. Looking around the motion was clearly making Natsu suffer from his motion sickness and saw the hulking form of Magmortar lying on the ground. "Do something to stop Rex!" Happy cried out.

Locking eyes with each other Erza saw that this wasn't the same Rex who had fought Jose, and it's like she was seeing a completely different person compared to the confident hero just a few weeks ago. Pushing that out of mind she knew of the perfect armor to deal with this situation. " **Requip!** " She shouted.

When the glow died down Erza's legs nearly gave away but she adjusted her footing to reveal a mostly green armour with the helmet being blue in colour and parts of it resembles sea creatures. This armor revealed a fair amount of her front body with her gauntlets covering her forearms and elbow guards that looked like seashells, though her back was completely covered and a flowing green robe appeared from the waist down. The headgear was blue with a wave on the front and fin protrusions siding her head and her sword was also blue with a light blue jewel in the hile.

"Sea Empress Armor!" Happy cheered, glad that something was going to happen.

"Stop this at once Rex!" Erza demanded and then swung her glowing sword out in an arc and unleashed a wave of water that washed over everything in its path. Rex jumped out of the way and dashed forwards with Extreme Speed, slamming into her with his body and she ground her teeth.

Leaping backwards she then slashed her sword in several more arc, firing waves of water that swamped everything in the room including Magmortar and Natsu. "I never thought that I'd be glad to cool down for once." The flame pokémon breathed in amazement.

Stopping Rex then switched into the Zap Plate and looked at the water on the ground. "Get in the air!" Erza commanded.

Though Natsu was able to do that thanks to some assistance from Happy Magmortar wasn't as lucky as the electricity raced through the open water and caught both of them. "What happened here?" She demanded after unleashing another blade of water towards Rex who countered with Thunderbolt.

"Though Natsu set him off it wasn't deliberate. Right now we've got to stop him from destroying the place." Magmortar swiftly replied and then used Psychic to lift him in the air.

Twisting and turning Rex tried to get out but found it difficult so his eyes flashed a silver-grey colour before a blast of blue energy threw everyone backwards into the wall. After then switching into the Earth Plate and using Magnitude, this one being the maximum possible strength which was significantly stronger than the previous Earthquake.

Picking Erza up with Psychic, the pokémon then threw her towards Rex and she then used the force of the water magic to launch him down to the second floor. "You won't get me again!" Rex shouted, his voice shaking and he then switched to the Iron Plate and activated his armour. Boosting his speed with Autotomize and then rushed her again with Extreme Speed, throwing a Meteor Mash for extra punching power.

"Lucy, Gray, help me out!" Erza coughed out from the impact.

" **Ice-Make: Lance!** " Gray called out as he then fired the projectiles towards Rex.

" **Open: Gate of the Maiden – Virgo!** " Lucy called out and the bell summoned the pink haired spirit once again.

"How can I help you this time, Princess?" Virgo inquired.

"We need to trap Rex, but don't hurt him too much." Lucy explained.

After a surprisingly long pause from the Spirit she spoke up, "This won't be an easy task, but I can try." And then began digging into the ground and moving over so that she was underneath Rex.

Spotting the incoming projectiles an array of silver orbs appeared and intercepted each of them perfectly, shards of ice raining down between them. " **Ice-Make: Hammer!** " Gray then shouted and spread his feet out as a massive hammer appeared from the air and began bearing down upon Rex.

Jumping up Rex drew back another Meteor Mash and hit the hammer in the centre, cracks flashed along it before it broke into several piece and spread out around him. "S-s-stop it, I won't let you get me a-again!" Rex stammered.

 _I know Rex can be surprised and caught off guard, but I've never heard him speak in this tone._ Lucy thought, and she was spooked by how efficient and deadly Rex was. Turning to look at Magmortar the normally battle happy pokémon didn't seem like he wanted to lift either of his cannons at all.

"Come on Rex, it's just us! Your friends from Fairy Tail." Erza spoke up, keeping her sword pointed out but not attacking yet. Throughout this unexpected fight she had noted one consistent factor – that Rex was only defending himself from their attacks and countering them. So the only thing they could do was knock him out swiftly.

Feeling the ground shake beneath him Rex looked down and then watched the earth drag him down and then entomb him but then sued the Splash Plate and a wave of water appeared from nowhere, swamping everyone and freeing Rex. Jumping out of the ground Virgo looked on in surprise, though there was still a slightly blank look on her face, trying to think of a way to get him to stop.

Diving into the ground, Rex then took off into the air with the Sky Plate and hovered a few feet above ground, circling around it. Sensing movement from behind him he swiftly turned around and saw two chains flying and smack him back down from Virgo. "My apologies for the earlier failure Princess, I didn't expect him to summon a wave of water."

"Don't worry Virgo, you got him back to the ground." Lucy praised, then realised that Magmortar was not nearby after sensing that the heat near her suddenly moved and looked around to wonder where he had gone. "Erza, distract Rex." She told the scarlet haired wizard.

Unsure of what was going to happen Erza nodded in understanding, though she wasn't sure how Lucy was going to stop things but right now anything was better than what was happening right now. Replacing her current armour with that of her Heaven's Wheel Erza then summoned a group of swords and began firing them at Rex.

Bringing out his own Sacred Sword he parried most of them and the ones he couldn't parry Rex dodged out of the way and moved to the left out of the way. A shadow fell over him and Rex didn't have any time to react as Magmortar punched him firmly in the stomach with a single cannon, knocking him out.

"Mag… mortar…" Rex managed to say before he keeled over.

Once the dust settle down Erza returned back to her standard armor and took a breath – things had just gotten hairy for a moment but the reason for it was what concerned her as this wasn't a normal fight between them and Rex. Magmortar picked Rex up gently with Psychic and poked him gently with the other cannon in an attempt to wake him up.

A few moments passed when nothing happened and then woke up, hacking and coughing all the way as he managed to bring himself back to conscious, but everything felt dizzy and the world felt like he was spinning around.

"Why does my stomach feel like it's gonna hurl?" Rex hacked up and took in a long, deep breath.

"Feeling better?" Magmortar asked and he couldn't look any happier about Rex returning to normal.

"What happened? I remembered fire and…" Rex trailed off then stood up properly, stiffly before walking calmly right up to Natsu who looked ready to die of fright. But instead of attacking the salmon haired wizard Rex shook his head and then stood to observe Fort Term.

Aside from the central area being collapsed there wasn't much collateral damage that had been done to the place aside from the break in the outer wall. Compared to what they normally pulled off this was a lot safer and much better than normal – but Rex's reaction had unsettled everyone except Magmortar including Erza.

"So we're done here, right?" Rex asked quietly.

"Yes, just as soon as we get the leader over to the authorities. We'll let the town deal with the rest." Erza answered and the white-haired trainer nodded.

"You can deal with all of that I'll just… take a walk to clear my head." Rex faced them with an uncharacteristically upset look on his face as he began to walk out of Fort Term and Magmortar letting out an exasperated sigh as he followed his partner.

"What's his problem?" Natsu asked and Erza smacked him in response.

"Rex is upset you idiot; can't you understand that?!" She bellowed at him and Natsu crawled back in fright – the only thing possibly worse than Rex beating him down was the thought of Erza smacking him senseless. But just like Rex she didn't smack him either but instead right him up. "Let's focus on their leader for now, we can meet up with him later."

Nodding without saying a word, the others then walked over to the unconscious head of Fort Term and picked him up with some help from Gray who froze his hands together and formed a handcuff. On their way out of the fort they noticed that Loke of all people was standing outside and waiting for them with a look of surprise on his face.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Loke asked.

"Well thank you for finding my keys." Lucy then spoke up and predictably Loke backed away in fright, to her annoyance. "You're welcome by the way."

Grinning nervously, Loke took a step closer but still put some distance between the two of them. "Anyway, I was on a job when I saw Rex walking on his own. Did something happen?"

"Yes, though for the moment I suggest that you give him some space." Erza explained.

Nodding in understanding, Loke began walking away and to the rest of the group was looking paler than before they set off to find Lucy. Thinking to himself, Loke wondered about what could have gotten Rex so upset as with that kind of power that he possesses it must have been really personal for such a reaction. _It doesn't matter anyway, I'm still not going to be around by the time it gets resolved._ He thought bitterly.

When they had gotten back to Magnolia the moment Rex felt the train stop he got up and then began walking away from them and headed right off to the Strauss household without saying a word to either of them and kept to himself for the rest of the day, even cooking his own dinner. It wasn't until night fell that he saw somebody other than himself.

"Is this where you've been all this time Rex?" Elfman asked, having arrived at the same time as Mirajane.

"We didn't see you at the hall today and the others didn't see very happy." Mirajane added as she walked over and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

Shaking suddenly, Rex looked up at them for a moment and tried to scowl at them but found that he couldn't quite keep it and then dropped it with a morose look on his face as he began to finally talk about it, "During our job we had pretty much finished it but then Natsu happened and I ended up reacting in a bad way."

"What kind of bad?" Mirajane asked, sitting down next to him.

"The bad kind of bad, and I ended up fighting my whole team. Not on purpose before you ask." Rex added as Elfman opened his mouth to interrupt.

"So why did you react like that?" Mirajane asked.

It was the question that gave way to a long silence as Rex stared out the window and clenched his fists, both siblings exchanging a worried look. When Erza had told them about it she had also mentioned that he avoided giving the reason for suddenly getting so upset. "I… I don't wanna talk about it. Not yet." He spoke in a heavy tone.

"If you don't want to that's okay, but we'll be here for you when you finally do." Mirajane assured him and then gently drew him in for a hug and Rex then put his arms around her shoulders after a moment of uncertainty. To Rex it meant everything for him at the moment and was helped by the fact that she didn't ask anything else about it and just wanted him to feel safe and relaxed and pulled her in a bit tighter, not wanting to let go yet.

Feeling the arms drop was the signal that the hug was over and he slowly let go with a red blush spreading across his face that wasn't going away. _Was she always this attractive? Not just in her looks but also her voice is one of the most beautiful I've ever heard… do I really have a crush on her?_ Rex interrupted his own thoughts, looking back out of the window to hide his red face.

Not that it was going to do any sort of good as both of them had already spotted the red on his face and Mirajane began to giggle at the flushed look on his face, and Elfman had a slight scowl on his face. "Uh… thanks, I needed that." Rex admitted with a smile on his face, the first genuine smile for hours since the day started.

Sitting up in his bed Rex later looked out of his window with a frown on his face. _I thought that working in a team with the others but after the events today… I think it would be better if I continued taking jobs on my own, and my pokémon of course._ He thought and looked at the clock beside the bed and could make out that it was nearly midnight. Rex let out a small sigh, knowing that it was going be a long night for him.

Indeed it was a very long night that followed as he didn't get much sleep, resulting in him failing to fight the desire to sleep off at the bar and was snoring gently as Lucy sat next to him with a look of astonishment on her face. "How is he still sleeping?"

"Apparently he had a rough night's sleep, he wasn't paying much attention while he was having his breakfast and nearly spilled his drink." Mirajane noted, looking at him in concern.

Someone else wanted a talk with Rex and Natsu marched right before smacking him in the head. "Wake up sleepyhead, we need to talk!" He demanded and then began shaking Rex in an effort to get him to wake up.

"Sheesh, could you be any more subtle?" Gray asked and placed a hand on his forehead.

Despite how tactless it was it did work as Rex yawned and murmured, "I told you not to wake me up Magmortar." He complained, slurring a couple of words and then blinked himself awake when he realised that it was Natsu and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Why did you react that way? When I first met you at Hargeon you could use your fire without problem, what makes this instance so different?!" Natsu then asked.

 _Did he actually remember that?_ Lucy and Happy though in amazement.

Getting up and feeling alert, Rex punched the counter and then stared right back at Natsu who began sweating very nervously at the look on his face before he began answering in a tone that was trying to be relaxed but was notably strain. "There are three reasons as for my reaction. The first one is that I've been around Magmortar since he was a Magby, for four years, so I've gotten used to his presence. Second is that it was in an enclosed location, I have no trouble with an open fire. Finally, the reason for my initial usage was because I was getting used to having the Plates inside of me and I wanted to try all of them." A pause followed as they took the explanation in as Rex sat back down and tapped the counter with a finger repeatedly, not looking at any of Natsu's team and choosing to maintain his silence again.

"Well if you want a job that doesn't involve as much fighting then I've got one right up your alley Lucy." Mirajane announced and she presented a flyer.

"So this involves promoting some kind of play?" Lucy asked, reading it over.

"That sounds boring." Natsu complained.

Helping him back up Erza then pointed out, "Since you chose the last job Natsu it's only fair that Lucy gets a turn to choose a job that suits all of us, that's not a problem is it?" she asked in a calm tone and Natsu shook his head furiously.

"Well good luck with that." Rex stated.

All of them stared at him for several moments before Gray asked, "You're not coming?"

"After what had happened yesterday I think it's best if you went on your own adventures for the moment." Rex pointed out and Natsu seemed like the only one who wanted to argue with that.

"Does that mean you're off the team for good? I wanna see your Zangoose again!" Happy cried.

Unable to resist a chuckle, Rex gently patted Happy on the head as he thought about it. "Of course, it's only going to be temporary. Besides I'm not a theatre person so you can all have some fun." He answered, holding the Great Ball up teasingly and making the cat's eyes shine with hope.

"We should get going, it says that the play will be on several days across a week." Erza then poke up with a slightly excited tone in her voice that made everyone stare at her in slight confusion.

Once they had left Rex grumbled something underneath his breath and then walked over to the job request board to look at it and take his mind off of things. Magmortar was out of his Poké Ball and standing away from them as he watched Rex further explain it to Natsu, finally walking over and slightly starting the white-haired wizard. "Were you listening to all of that?"

"Yeah, and everything that Rex said was true." Magmortar admitted as he looked at his cannon for a moment before moving his head up to look at Mirajane. "The way Rex acts and expresses himself is well, a way to hide his true self even if he doesn't want to admit it."

As his attention was focused on the request board he didn't hear what Magmortar had said and Rex took a flyer off of the wall, tearing the corners of the request by accident and studied the writing on the paper. "What does it say?" Magmortar asked once he walked back over.

"It doesn't say much other than magical assistance required, it takes place in Cordelica City and the reward is 600,000 Jewel for it."

"Oh so that's why you got it, for the big money. That way you can drink as much coffee as you want since you don't pay rent." Magmortar teased and Rex glared at him back as if to non-verbally deny that.

Whilst Mirajane went to get out the large book that contained the details of taken job requests Rex began thinking about her again as he waited. A lot of his thoughts had been coming back to the bartender of the Guild and having other people notice some of his actions, most especially the way he reacted to Laxus insulting her. Though he did admire her after first entering the guild it Rex started to realise that it was more than simply admiring her for being pretty and that he might genuinely have feelings for her.

"So Mirajane, I've been thinking about this job and I was wondering if you would like to go on this one with me." Rex stated and Mirajane turned to face him in surprise.

Holding her hands together she considered it and didn't say anything at first and Rex guessed that Mirajane was probably remembering what happened the two years ago with her last job request and how much that had cost her. But after seeing how Elfman had been able to finally walk past that had given her the courage to start walking too, and Rex was such a nice and considerate person.

"Are you okay? If you don't want to join me that's fine." Rex asked and Mirajane was broken out of her thoughts, the light blush on her face disappearing within seconds.

"No I'm fine, but I think…" Mirajane replied, taking a deep breath before speaking up in a more confident tone, "I would like to help you on this job."

This statement caught the attention of everyone who had heard it and they were staring at Mirajane in surprise, Makarov and Elfman in particular were caught off guard by this sudden change. The latter in particular was glaring at Rex, though with the trainers back facing him he couldn't see his face.

"Really? You're sure about this?" Rex asked, equally surprised about it. Mirajane didn't say anything but nodded in confirmation and a grin spread across his face, then he got up from his spot and then began running back to the house he was staying in to get ready for their first job with Magmortar following shortly.

"Big sis, are you feeling okay?" Elfman asked as he approached the bar.

"I am perfectly fine Elfman, in fact I haven't felt this way for several years." Mirajane reassured him and then began walking off back to the house as well, walking with confidence this time. Although it wasn't obvious to most of the present guild members, Makarov was the only one who noted the change in the feeling of magic coming from her and smiled cryptically. There would be more change to come in the future, he was sure of it.

 **Next Time – A Guiding Light**

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 **Sorry for the delay in the next chapter but in case you haven't noticed IT'S TOO DAMN HOT in the UK and this apparently is gonna get more frequent – like once every five years and I hope that it's every 5 years.**


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